Tag: suez

#Jan25 Army cracks down on strikers

Posted on By 3arabawy

The army has killed by mistake a woman, as a crackdown on strikers ensued in Suez. There are also reports a number of strikers were detained in Cairo by the military police.

Following the arrest of the Suez strikers, a trade unionist source told me over the phone, their families assembled in a protest, and that’s when the woman was ran over by an army tank accidentally. This woman is related to one of the detained strikers. Clashes ensued, as protesters tried to mob the army brigadier general who was in the tank.

Another accident took place in Tera’a Square, as an army tank ran into a microbus by accident. The microbus belongs to the Sharkeyoon Petrochemicals company. No one was injured in the accident, but citizens assembled around the tank and shouted slurs against the army.

#Jan25 Suez strikes

Posted on By 3arabawy

I was watching Al-Jazeera Arabic, which was reporting minutes ago on mass strikes in Suez among industrial workers from different sectors. In the case of a textile factory, the army intervened directly to try to mediate between the CEO and the strikers. The negotiations failed, and the army whisked away the CEO.

A unified demand across the strikes, Al-Jazeera reported, was prosecuting the corrupt managers. This comes amid continued demands for the impeachment of the Suez governor.

A trade unionist source in Suez had told me last week that the Suez Governor is not even in Suez, and had to escape in the protection of the army. It was rumored then the army had arrested him, but he wasn’t. And he tried to continue managing the affairs of the town via telephone from somewhere outside the town.

This governor is widely hated by the Suez citizens who accuse him of corruption and of massacring protesters during the uprising. There is no accurate figure for how many died in Suez, but it’s safe to say the biggest numbers of casualties took place in that province.

Hence you can imagine how the Suez people feel about the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ decision to reinstate “temporarily” the governors in office, till the “civilian elected government is shaped” god knows when.