Egypt’s military government on Monday urged a halt to widespread strikes inspired by a popular uprising that threatened to paralyse the country following Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow.
The orders came after the elderly generals now ruling the country met some of the young internet activists who triggered the revolt against Mubarak, reportedly promising a referendum on a new constitution within two months.
In its latest announcement since it took power on Friday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces urged trade union leaders to call off their action but stopped short of issuing a decree banning strikes, as it had been rumoured to be preparing to do.
“Honourable citizens can see that protests at this critical time will have a negative effect in harming the security of the country,” its spokesperson said.
The nationwide uprising that toppled Mubarak’s 30-year rule has splintered into scattered pay strikes by workers in the banking, transport, healthcare, oil, tourism and textiles sectors, as well as state-owned media and government bodies.
“It’s difficult to say exactly how many people are striking and where. Who isn’t striking?” Abbas said, adding that many of the strikes were aimed at removing corrupt trade union leaders tied to the former president.
‘They send us out with vehicles with bad brakes’
At one such protest, public transport workers demanded better working conditions and accused officials of corruption.
“They send us out with vehicles with bad brakes … There is no maintenance on the cars,” said one protester.
At another, a few dozen hospital workers formed a human chain to stop traffic on the highway south out of the capital, causing a major traffic jam and infuriating motorists, who shouted out: “Shame on you!”
The strikes prompted the stock exchange to again delay its opening until next week, citing “fears of instability”.
In the shadow of the Great Pyramids of Giza a different kind of protest was held, with hundreds of guides urging tourists to return to the country, holding up banners in English, French, Russian and German that: “Egypt loves you.”
The cyber-campaigners said the junta, which dissolved Parliament and suspended the Constitution on Sunday, vowed to rewrite the document within 10 days in line with the protesters’ demands for democratic change.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has set a six-month timetable for holding elections but said the Cabinet Mubarak hastily appointed on January 31 — headed by a former air force commander — would stay on.
“We met the army … to understand their point of view and lay out our views,” said 30-year-old Google executive Wael Ghonim and blogger Amr Salama, in a note on a pro-democracy website that helped launch the revolt.
Unlikely hero
Ghonim became an unlikely hero of the uprising after he tearfully described his 12 days in detention in a televised interview, and has since embarked on a high-profile media blitz despite denying he has political ambitions.
The sweeping changes announced by the council dismantled the political system that underpinned Mubarak’s rule, which ended on Friday when he was driven from power after the 18-day pro-democracy uprising.
The dissolved Parliament was seen as illegitimate following elections last year that were marred by widespread allegations of fraud and gave Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP) an overwhelming majority.
The protesters had also demanded the overhaul of the Constitution, which placed restrictions on who could stand as a candidate in elections and made it virtually impossible for the opposition to seriously challenge the NDP.
Several members of the previous government, including sacked prime minister Ahmed Nazif and widely hated interior minister Habib al-Adly, have been banned from leaving the country by authorities investigating graft allegations.
Hundreds of members of Mubarak’s police force — which was widely viewed as corrupt and brutal — are protesting to demand that Adly, their former boss, be publicly executed in a bid to show their solidarity with the uprising.
Recovery of several priceless artefacts
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Museum announced that it had recovered two of several priceless artefacts that had been looted during the initial unrest sparked by the revolt.
Minister of state for antiquities Zahi Hawass said a gilded wooden statue of the boy king Tutankhamun and several other ancient treasures had been stolen.
Looters had broken into the museum off Cairo’s Tahrir Square on January 28, during clashes between protesters and riot police.
By Monday, the square, where hundreds of thousands of people had held mass protests against the regime, was once again bustling with traffic. — AFP