Resources on Egypt’s State Security Police
State Security Police tried to seal off the factory Wednesday morning by closing the main gate, but the workers stormed the gate and opened it by force.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_OxePhwe-c
The troops are still deploying around the factory. Kareem took some pix of the troops clearing out the area around the factory compound of street vendors:
And here are the troops stationed at the entrance to the city:
From Ikhwan Web:
Immediately after the visit of the Minister of Higher Education to Al Fayyum university, two students were arrested at the gate of university, a few days after two other students were arrested, one of them at the gate of the university and the other from his house just before Iftar (breaking the fasting).
Both students were jailed 15 days under investigation.
On Monday morning, Sep, 24th, Motasim Salah Youssef, a third year student at the Faculty of Social Work, and Ramadan Mahmoud Muhammad, a student at the College of Specific Education, were arrested while entering university to attend classes.
Officer Marawan Ahmad Mazen who is tasked with the file of university and education at the State Security Police service supervised the detentions operation. He even chased a student at the Faculty of Education using a police car.
And here’s a video of the arrest, I received from the MB:
More updates from Mahalla:
State Security Prosecutor ordered the release of the Mahalla Five today sometime between 3 to 4pm. But the labor leaders are still in police custody as I write now, as they will have to be reviewed first by State Security Police.
More importantly, the state-owned management issued today a statement, decreeing that the days from 23 September to 30 September are “holidays”… which basically enforces the “illegal” status of the strike, as the workers according to the law, should not be present at all inside the factory.
The workers met the statement with wrath. “They tore the posted statements down from the walls, and started chanting against the management,” one activist inside the company told me. “But this could well be Step 1 towards crushing the strike. They declare your presence illegal, and then send someone in to set fire or sabotage something to give the excuse for the troops to storm the compound.”
Meanwhile the strike continues. There will be more reports and photos that I’ll upload later in the day.
Down with Mubarak… Victory to the Mahalla Strikers.