2008 Egyptian general strike

Anti-government demonstrations · picasa

On 2008-04-06, a general strike was called in Egypt by a loose coalition of Islamists (but not the Muslim Brotherhood officially) and workers' movements in response to rising food prices and the municipal elections to be held two days later.

The demonstration was publicised by electronic media (social networking sites, SMS, etc.), as a result of which Malek, a far left-wing blogger, was among the political agitants arrested on the night of 2008-04-05.

The strike and demonstrations were co-ordinated to start at 0700 UTC+2 in the industrial town of El-Mahalla El-Kubra (المحلّة الكبرى) in the West Delta. Strikes are illegal under Egyptian law and police were deployed to disperse the demonstrators at the textile factories in El-Mahalla El-Kubra with tear gas, rubber pellets and live ammunition. There were 2 fatalities among the demonstrators, including a 15 year old boy.

Sixth of October Bridge © All rights reserved

In Cairo, where I found myself, a thick cloud of sand and dust was hanging over the city, turning the sky a dirty yellow. Policemen and soldiers in riot gear lined Tahrir Square in Downtown and stopped any planned demonstrations from going ahead.

Photography and other forms of journalism and reporting on the strike were heavily restricted across central Cairo. While lying prone in the back seat of a Toyota Camry driving through Downtown, I was able to photograph the situation at approximately 1200 UTC+2 on 2008-04-06.

The strike was widely held to have failed. At the municipal elections on 2008-04-08, the governing National Democratic Party (NDP) won 92 percent of the seats available. The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the election, leaving 70 percent of the seats to the NDP by default.