Several Egyptian governorates on Sunday witnessed popular protests and strikes over different issues, most notably in the Gharbiya Governorate, where workers from the Nile Cotton Company staged protests against the company's failure to pay out bonuses since 2005.
Demonstrators tied themselves up and threatened to throw themselves in front of oncoming trains if they did not receive their rightful bonuses. They were prevented by security personnel, however, from marching to a nearby railroad crossing.
In Sohag, meanwhile, more than 250 nurses and laboratory technicians declared a strike, demanding payment of bonuses as had been promised earlier by the Health Ministry. In Cairo, 500 employees of the North Cairo Power Station also went on strike to demand better working conditions and salary increases.
Workers from the Telephone Equipment Company in southern Cairo also maintained their strike for the fifth consecutive day against Manpower Minister Aisha Abdel Hadi's refusal to pay them each LE50,000 retirement packages–as had been promised earlier–in advance of the company's liquidation.
And in Fayoum, 100 villagers staged demonstrations against a three-month-long water shortage, which, they say, has caused their crops to whither and their cattle to die.
Moreover, scores of people protested in Cairo against a recent resolution by the Education Ministry requiring that primary school applications be personally submitted to the ministry's Cairo headquarters. Protesters, many of whom live outside the capital, wondered why they had to travel all the way to Cairo to submit their children's school applications.
Finally, scores of citizens with special needs protested against the government's failure to meet earlier promises to provide them with housing units and micro-business opportunities.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
