Looks like potentially quite a big one, although the arabawy blog doesn't look encouraging in terms of police response.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/04/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Arrests.php
http://arabist.net/arabawy/2008/04/06/police-abort-mahalla-strike/
http://www.arabisto.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogID=7&blogEntryID=1010
http://baheyeldin.com/places/egypt/egypt-set-general-strike-april-6-2008.html
It is the moment of truth for both the masses and the ruling class and elite in Egypt......In fact the Egyptian masses , once again , took the lead in the revolutionary action in the middle east , even such action can be expectaed anywhere else in the middle east..the current disasterous situations of arab masses resulted from the unlimited expoiltation, up to frank and direct robbery , of the masses and the country's natural resources by the ruling class and elite and the multinational corporations..the long-time repression could kept the masses til now in almost full inertia , this also helped the Washington' neo-conservative administration to use democracy as a pretext to bully the repressive regimes in our area , knowing that any change will abide with its instructions and interests..Iraq is a good example..what happened there after removing the old dictator is a merely a new different form of repression and expoiltation practiced this time by the religious and sectarian elites..these elites proved very good ally of Bush's iraqi policies and its occupation of the oil-rich country..what we want is so different ( even it is the contrary ) : a change that ll appoint the masses , and only the masses , as the ruler of their own fate , a real democracy that ll replace any elite rule with the self-management of the people , and thus putting the base of popular and democratic resistance to the imperialist interventionist policies and exploitation of the masses...
I've just got back after spending a whole day in Cairo trying to go to one of the solidarity protests. But as usual downtown Cairo was literally under siege with thousands of police, plainclothes thugs, vans, water cannons etc. everywhere. Protesters were that turned up in small numbers were arrested (I think about 30-50 in Cairo alone) or were forced to disperse. A group of about 200 were holed up in the Lawyers Syndicate by hundreds of police.
In Mahalla several workers (up to 100) were arrested. Mahalla and the Misr Spinning and Weaving Factory has been under siege for days and today all attempts at striking or occupying the factory were effectively stopped by the security forces. There has apparently been a split between militant and co-opted workers in Mahalla, with the former strike leaders (Attar and Habib e.g.) belonging to the latter group (they even signed documents affirming that they would not strike today). I haven't got all the news for other places in Egypt, but there appears to have been a general police repression everywhere.
The call for a general strike was just posturing by the Islamic Labour Party. It was a call to strike being passed around on facebook, e-mails, sms etc. but not backed up by anything organized at workplaces. Edit: however, Cairo was relatively empty today and some reports I've say that "significant parts of the population actively or passively were supporting the strike". Lots of university students apparently did not attend classes today. None of this I have been able to confirm, but I will probably get a clearer picture of what happened later this evening or tomorrow.
Frustrating day, and on top of that there was a sandstorm and it rained.
Sounds very frustrating. What do you think will be the effect in Mahalla long term? Is this co-option a new thing?
The co-optation has happened slowly over some time, maybe a few months.
I don't think Mahalla will quit being a hotbed of militancy as their reasons for striking have not gone away. Some of their demands have been met, some of them the government have only paid lip-service and done nothing and a lot of demands have not been met. There could be a strike tomorrow or next month, I simply don't know. At the moment I don't have enough information.
I just heard that two ppl have been killed in Mahalla (9 year old boy and 20 yr old man). I don't know the circumstances, though I think it is relation to a protest held there (3000 strong from what I've heard). Mahalla is now closed off. No one can leave or enter.
MAHALLA EL-KUBRA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptians angry with the government about high prices set fire to shops and two schools in a Nile Delta textile town on Sunday after police thwarted plans for a general strike and countrywide protests.
ADVERTISEMENTPolice fought battles through the streets of Mahalla el-Kubra with the protesters, led by textile workers who tried to go on strike for more pay to compensate for inflation.
The demonstrators set ablaze a primary school, a preparatory school and a travel agency, among other shops in the working-class town, and stopped an incoming train by putting blazing tires on the railway tracks, witnesses said.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protests. Some 40 people were injured and hundreds of others had breathing problems from gas inhalation, security sources said.
Protesters threw stones at police, attacked police vehicles and tore down the posters of the ruling party's candidates in Tuesday's local elections, witnesses said.
Egypt's urban consumer inflation jumped to an 11-month high of 12.1 percent in the year to February. Higher prices for food have hit the poorest Egyptians hardest.
Independent workers groups and opposition parties had hoped the 20,000 workers at state-owned Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla would go on strike as the centerpiece of a national day of protest at economic grievances.
But a strong police presence, stormy weather and stern warnings from the government helped to thwart their plans.
Across the country police arrested more than 200 people. In the capital riot police hemmed in small groups of protesters.
The call for a national general strike had won overt support from the anti-government protest movement Kefaya and some small opposition parties and movements. The influential Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition force, gave it tacit approval but said it would not participate.
PLAINCLOTHES
In Mahalla, 100 km (60 miles) north of Cairo, hundreds of plainclothes security men took control of the massive textile factory before work began, worker activists said.
"They (were) inside and outside the factory and workers who managed to reach the place were taken one by one to their machines and were forced to work," arim Al Behiry, a blogger who works in the textile factory told Reuters.
Police escorted small groups of workers from the factory at the end of their shifts to stop them organizing and protesting.
Opposition activists had hoped the day would crown a recent wave of strikes and protests against high prices and show the government the strength of popular discontent.
Those detained on Sunday were from Cairo, Alexandria, and the provinces of Beheira, Gharbia and Qena. They included activists from Kefaya, the Ghad (Tomorrow) party, the frozen Labour Party, labor activists and a handful of people who had called for the strike on Facebook.
They were held mostly for distributing leaflets in support of the strike or protesting, security sources said.
"These included the opposition blogger Malek Mostafa," lawyer and human rights activist Gamal Eid told Reuters.
The police presence was especially strong around Tahrir Square in central Cairo and at the headquarters of the lawyers and journalists association, popular venues for protests.
"We tried to demonstrate in Tahrir Square but we were chased out and some of us were arrested," Abdelwahab El-Messiri, the general coordinator of Kefaya, told Reuters.
"So we decided to cancel it because we don't want to have victims," he added.
Workers in Kafr Al Dawar and Shebine Al Koom said there too organizers had cancelled solidarity strikes and demonstrations.
But some private schools in Cairo cancelled classes and told pupils to stay at home for fear of trouble in the streets.
According to Arabawy this has happened:
Hell breaks loose in Mahalla!!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned for updates…
UPDATE: Troops fire on protesters in Mahalla… At least two were killed… Other activist sources put the number at seven.. still trying to confirm…
UPDATE: Sometime after 3pm, demonstrations broke out in El-Shoun Sq, chanting against price increases.. Mubarak’s police fired on the demonstrators.. A man and a child were killed.. Police trucks attacked.. Buses caught on fire… Mass round ups of activists and citizens… Ghazl el-Mahalla labor organizers Kamal el-Fayoumi and Tarek Amin el-Senoussi are in police custody… Police gunshots heard throughout the town according to witness…
UPDATE: An eyewitness told me over the phone he saw buses catching fire after they got hit by rounds of police ammunition…
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