TokTok drivers from Bassateen (south of Cairo) demonstrated Thursday, in front of the ministerial cabinet headquarters, against the continued police crackdowns on them.

Firmly stuck at the bottom of the pecking order, Egyptian microbus drivers are forced by the police to transport investigation teams to security missions on a daily basis.
In addition to the social stigma attached to being a microbus drivers in Egypt, drivers at the Ataba-Helwan (Downtown Cairo) line have been ousted from their bus station by the local authorities, who now have no alternative but to pick up patrons from Port Said Street.
Drivers are threatening to go on strike due to a hectic situation where they have no protection from police harassment or even space where they can pick up commuters.
“We now stand in the middle of the road, which makes us vulnerable to traffic police officers who confiscate licenses for any reason,” microbus owner, Muhammad Negima told Daily News Egypt.
When the buses were removed, street vendors invaded the space where only a week ago microbus drivers used to pick up patrons, turning it into a miniature market area.
“There are more than a 100 buses on this line, which means that it supports at least 300 families,” said Negima.
Most of the commuters are either lawyers from Helwan that come to Baab El Khalq court house or Helwan residents who sell merchandise in Ataba.
“This line in particular is a major transport artery because it moves thousands of people everyday,” Negima explained.
A similar scenario took place three years ago when the buses were removed from the area previously known as the Gaza market.
“We went on strike and they reacted by impounding a number of buses and detaining drivers. When they saw that things were getting out of hand, they provided us with space beneath the intersection of Azhar Bridge. This is the space they removed us from a week ago,” Negima said.
Negima also complains that on a daily basis, security personnel from the Gamalia police station force drivers to transport them on their raids, denying them a full working day’s income.

There’s nothing that describes the abuse faced by the Egyptian microbus drivers and Mubarak’s pigs more than the case of Emad Kabeer.

Also yesterday, microbus drivers went on strike in Qalyoubiya, north of Cairo, protesting fines imposed by the province governor, while in the western oasis of Fayoum around 1,000 farmers demonstrated in front of the Fayoum Sugar Factory protesting the company’s delay in buying their crop.

Today, the workers at the state-owned Light Means of Transportation Production Company (which assembles motorcycles and bikes) staged a sit-in at 4pm. The industrial action ended around 7pm.

I don’t know the number of the workers involved (but I think they may be around one thousand). You can click on the banner below to download a statement by the Workers Coordination Committee which includes the workers’ demands.

The WCC had put this statement earlier in the day when the sit-in started. I learned later from a socialist activist that the sit-in ended around 7pm with the govt meeting some of the workers’ demands. Still no details available.

Meanwhile, the Mansoura-España Garments Company workers factory occupation continues. The workers do not trust the deal reached between the MPs, Labor Ministry and the bank owners, so they are continuing their sit-in fearing Al-Masraf Al-Muttahid Bank will shut down their source of income.