Scores of people with disabilities staged protests in the Upper Egyptian city of Assiut Sunday, demanding jobs and threatening to go on hunger strikes.
The protesters called on the government to activate a provision in the legal system that allocates five percent of government job vacancies to people with disabilities.
“The government favors the victims of the revolution for the vacancies,” state run Al-Ahram newspaper website quoted Ali Hassan, one of the protesters, as saying.
Ayman Farghaliy, another protester, criticized the police for threatening protesters and arresting two of them for blocking railways.
Following the ouster of former President Mubarak, activism increased among people with disabilities, who called for the end of various forms of discrimination against them, especially regarding employment.
A National Council for the Disabled was created last year to represent the demands of people with disabilities.
