Dozens of protesters continued their sit-in outside the Cabinet building on Monday, on their sixth day of a hunger strike to demand the enforcement of the Political Isolation Law, the dismissal of the public prosecutor and the immediate release of all detainees arrested during the Abbasseya clashes.
The number of hunger strikers rose from 47 to 55, including a number of political activists such as Nawara Negm, Asmaa Mahfouz and other revolutionary youth, who stressed that they “will not end the sit-in until all of the demands have been met.”
The protesters set up barriers around the area using wire and wooden planks, and put up a banner reading, “the boundaries of the sit-in” to avoid any arguments with passers-by.
The Health Ministry dispatched an ambulance to the sit-in area to provide medical assistance to the protesters in case of any emergency situations after one protester fell ill.
Dr. Mark Magdy, the mobile clinic doctor, said, “The majority of cases that come in to the clinic suffer from severe weakness and low blood pressure as a result of not eating.”
Security forces intensified their presence to prevent altercations between the protesters and passersby and to regulate traffic to avoid blockages on Qasr al-Aini Street.
Some passersby wondered what good the sit-in and hunger strike would do, especially with the presidential runoff approaching.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
