The Egyptian police quickly quelled a planned peaceful demonstration today in Cairo using a variety of security forces, violent interventions, and on-the-spot arrests. Protests were also staged and disrupted in Alexandria and other cities throughout Egypt.
Human rights watchdogs reported that up to 87 activists were detained as they were heading to downtown Cairo to partake in a protest in front of the Shura Council. Some of the protesters were reportedly beaten and injured.
Activists were from the 6 April Youth Movement, the Tagammu Party, the Ghad Party and Mohamed ElBaradei’s pro-reform coalition the National Association for Change, as well as other groups.
The protesters planned to walk from the central Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo to the People’s Assembly nearby in an attempt to emulate the 6 April 2008 general strike and to protest the Emergency Law. They were intercepted by security forces determination to curb the protest.
In 2008, workers at a state-run textile factory in the Nile Delta city Mahalla staged a strike to protest low wages and rising food prices. In parallel, a group of youth used Facebook to call for a general strike in solidarity with the Mahalla workers and also to protest rising prices. The strike in Al-Mahalla was met with violent responses from the police.
