Dozens of lawyers who have been staging a sit-in at the Lawyers Syndicate for a week threatened to begin an open-ended hunger strike if their demands remain ignored.
Protesters want the syndicate’s general assembly dissolved, new elections conducted, and the amendment of the law governing their profession They said these demands have been disregarded.
They said they will submit a report to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces within the next few days accusing Hamdi Khalifa, their syndicate head, of colluding with the Muslim Brotherhood to allow it to control the syndicate and use it for political gains.
The protesters issued a statement on Saturday which threatened a hunger strike at the Court of Appeal if the the latter refuses to assume responsibility for the syndicate.
Meanwhile, Mohamed al-Damati, the syndicate’s deputy, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he fully supports the demands and sees them as legitimate, adding that the protesting lawyers have the right to express their opinion as long as they do so peacefully.
He said he is awaiting the administrative judiciary’s 11 June ruling on whether the Cairo Court of Appeal should be given responsibility for the Lawyers Syndicate and whether new elections should be held.
Magdi Abdel Halim, a member of the coordinating committee for the Lawyers’ Revolution of Rage, criticized the Muslim Brotherhood and its representatives on the Lawyers Syndicate assembly, saying they control the council and refuse to hand over responsibility for the syndicate to the Court of Appeal.
