About 500 lawyers protested yesterday in front of their syndicate against the syndicate board’s intention to raise annual membership dues.
Lawyers complained that no syndicate employees were present when the lawyers arrived at the office to pay their dues. The syndicate said the incident was due to a computer system breakdown. After four hours, syndicate employees began to collect the dues, which had not been raised.
During the demonstration, lawyers called the police and filed a report accusing the syndicate board of failure to do their job and causing them intentional harm.
Lawyers gathered around board members Mukhtar el-Ahsry and Abdel Salam Keshk, both of whom denied having any information about the syndicate’s plans.
Marwa Mohamed, a lawyer from Tanta, said that the syndicate provides health insurance to members only after they have renewed their membership dues. This, said Mohamed, makes lawyers more eager to renew their memberships on time.
Mohamed Saber, another lawyer, said that he did not manage to pay the fees because the syndicate did not inform its agents of the exact cost of the fees. Saber noted that the board has not convened for more than a month and a half, adding that employees are supposed to be present at least two months before the beginning of the new year in order to provide documents required to renew subscriptions.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
