More details and photos coming soon…
UPDATE: Around 2000 Ghazl el-Mahalla workers and activists demonstrated in Mahalla in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Police laid siege on the factory, and cracked down on the organizers and journalists.
In a phone call with a Socialist source in Cairo, he said 16 were detained, including a number of journalists. But they are all released now. The protesters chanted against the US, Israel, Mubarak, and the rising prices of basic commodities.
UPDATE: Some pix, taken by blogger Kareem el-Beheiri…
UPDATE: Here’s a report from the Daily News Egypt…
Al Mahalla Al-Kubra workers staged a demonstration in solidarity with the people of Gaza on Thursday.
Organized by a board of parties and movements including the Muslim Brotherhood, workers gathered in the El-Shoun square to shout slogans such as “Arabs, why are you silent on Israel,” and calling for immediate Arab intervention in Gaza.
However, sources told the Daily News Egypt that demonstrators were surrounded by state security agents who prevented Mahalla residents from entering the place of protest.
“We were warned by security against protesting against Israeli action,” Hamdy Hussein of Afaq socialist center told Daily News Egypt. “There were plain clothed policemen loitering everywhere, so we moved the site slightly. However, we were soon surrounded within the square, and around 5,000 people were prevented from participating in the protest.”
As the protest was broken up, 15 activists and journalists, including Muhammad Abu Dahab of Al-Dostour opposition newspaper, Ahmad Abdel Maqsoud and Ahmad El-Shawihy, were also detained and threatened with charges of disturbing the peace.
This comes on the fifth day of the Gazl El-Mahalla textile workers’ wages strike.
Although employees at the weaving factory are continuing their work, they are refusing to take wages to protest against the disparity in the incentive payments among colleagues. While some take LE 37 as incentives, others receive LE 50.
Just to clarify: the ones who are currently on pay strike in Ghazl el-Mahalla are the company’s Exports Warehouse workers, who number 400. The total workforce in the factory is 27,000…