Security officials and retailers said industrial safety equipment dealers had been ordered not to sell yellow vests to people buying in person. They are only allowed to take wholesale purchases from verified companies. Permission also has to be granted from the police.
Anyone who ignores the restrictions will be punished, officials warned.
One trader, who was too scared to disclose his name, said: “They made us sign statements that we won’t sell yellow vests.
“Anyone who sells a single vest will put himself in big trouble.”
He refused to sell any of the yellow vests in his shop window, which were priced at just over $1.
He said: “Now they’re for display only.”
A public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of rights lawyer Mohamed Ramadan for wearing a yellow vest.
Mr Ramadan was detained for 15 days after a picture surfaced online of him wearing a vest similar to those worn by protesters in France.
Authorities said the photo was an incitement to hold similar protests.
Mr Ramadan was accused of charges including “spreading false news” and “spreading the ideology of a terrorist group”.
Two security sources said Mr Ramadan was in possession of eight yellow vests.
Since the election of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2014, Egypt has seen a crackdown on political opposition.
President Sisi has also cracked down on critics, the media, pro-democracy activists and human rights groups.
Activists say this the most severe censorship for decades.
January 25, 2019, will mark the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the 2011 revolution.
Authorities are scared the anniversary could provide a surge in anti-Sisi demonstrators taking to the streets.
The yellow vests have been the trademark of “Gilets Jaunes” activists whose violent protests since November 17 forced President Emmanuel Macron to backtrack on his planned fuel tax increases.
They also forced him to increase wages for France’s poorest people.
The restrictions on yellow vests in Egypt will remain in place until the end of January.