It started in early February with the Tanta Flax and Oils Company workers sleeping, eating and praying on the sidewalks in a desperate (and brave) attempt to bring their long-simmering grievances to the public eye. By the time the workers packed up their blankets and left last week, the sidewalks surrounding the Parliament building were a lot more crowded.
Somewhere along the line an unassuming stretch of Qasr el-Aini street turned into London’s Hyde Park–a shifting speaker’s corner offering a free-for-all of public discontent.
There were the textile workers of Amonsito, whose debt-laden Syrian owner fled the country more than a year ago; then came the angry workers from Nubaria Engineering and Agricultural Automation Company claiming they had not received their rightful salaries since 2008.
Around the corner in front of the Health Ministry, a separate group of handicapped and disabled citizens were loudly demanding their share of promised government jobs and housing. When the Nubaria workers left last Thursday, they were replaced within days by a new group of disgruntled employees from Salamco Spinning and Weaving factory, who haven’t been paid in two months.
Everyone, it seems, has a grievance and they’ve all taken to the streets–or more accurately to the sidewalks.
“We’re all brothers here,” said Salamco employee Ayman Ahmed Hamdi. “There’s agreement and communication between us.”
And while the various sidewalk protesters all have different demands and complaints, organizers see a common thread drawing them all to the same place.
Khaled el-Megali, a member of Amonsito’s local union, said the cause lies in the long-term effects of a government privatization program that has favored moneyed owners and investors while leaving the employees behind.
“The government has encouraged investment with no limits or rules,” he said. They’ve ruined things for the workers.”
Another common factor for the workers is the failure of government-backed workers’ institutions, like the state-run Egyptian Trade Unions Federation, to satisfactorily address their grievances.
“All legal and legitimate doors for me to register my complaints, I’ve tried them,” said Abdel Moneim Abu Zeid, a member of the Salamco factory workers’ committee. “That’s why we’re here.”
The Tanta workers ended their more than two-week public strike after receiving government assurances that their demands for back-pay will be addressed. But the implicit threat remains that if those promises aren’t kept, the workers could easily decide to return to the sidewalk.
“We’ll see. They just might be back here soon,” chuckled el-Megali.
One of the remarkable things about the overlapping sidewalk protests has been the relative absence of local security forces. Normally the government responds to public protests with overwhelming physical force. It’s common to see a 200-person protest surrounded by at least 1000 black-clad Central Security Forces soldiers.
But during a Tuesday afternoon tour of the various picket lines, the security presence was strikingly casual and low-key. Less than a dozen bored-looking Central Security soldiers stood alongside the barricades–basically conceding a rather busy stretch of sidewalk to the protesters.
Around the corner, at the disabled persons’ protest, a few officers stood watch, but did little to hamper the demonstrators. When MP Talaat Mutawa of Mansoura came out to speak with the demonstrators Tuesday afternoon, he was engulfed by a raucous crowd that spread into the street and blocked one of the traffic lanes. A police officer on duty gently pleaded with them to move back to the sidewalk.
“It’s their right. If they’re being peaceful, I’m not going to bother them,” said the officer, who identified himself only as Ayman. “And honestly, a member of my family could easily be in the same position.”
Protesters say they’re exhausted from days and weeks of sleeping on the pavement, but many of them see no alternative but to continue. Some predict that Cairo’s summer of sit-ins is only just beginning.
“If the government continues to let the investors run free, this will grow and grow," said Salamco employee Mohamed el-Sayed. “The sidewalks are wide. There’s a lot more room.”
