Egypt

Workers, activists stage sit-ins outside govt buildings

Hundreds of workers staged sit-ins outside Parliament and the headquarters of the health and education ministries in Cairo on Monday.

Members from the April 6 Youth Movement erected three makeshift tents outside Parliament to demand the release of political activists.

An estimated 300 dismissed workers from the Petrojet Company continued protests outside the parliament building to demand reinstatement, saying they were arbitrarily dismissed after the 25 January revolution.

The workers accused the Petroleum Ministry of corruption and said the dismissal of employees is subject to the ministry and company’s officials because there are not policies in place to dictate hiring and firing practices.

Workers from Shebin el-Kom Spinning & Weaving Company demonstrated outside Parliament to demand that the privatization of the company be reversed.

“We demand that the company be operated by the government, the workers are now confused between the government that sold and the investor who does not want to operate the company,” said Ragab Mohamed, a worker dismissed for advocating to have the company returned to the public sector.

Employees from the Central Auditing Organization continued their sit-in and started to collect signatures to submit to the People’s Assembly refusing the CAO’s affiliation with any authority, including the president or Parliament. The organization is currently affiliated with the executive branch.

More than 600 doctors from university hospitals organized a march from the headquarters of the Doctors Syndicate to the Health Ministry to demand geographic distribution according to their governorates and not to be assigned to work in remote places.

The Lawyers Youth Coalition along with activists from Kefaya movement organized a sit-in Monday morning outside North Cairo Court in solidarity with Tareq Medhat, Mahmoud al-Rashidi and Ibrahim al-Sunni, members of the Kefaya movement who are being tried in the court. They also demanded the “purging” of the judiciary.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm.

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