The Protest

Here is what I have heard about the protest that happened on Sunday April 6, 2008:

That there were about 200 lawyers protesting in Tahrir Square who were all arrested as soon as they started shouting. The rest of the day I walked around all I saw was lots of police officers. Many would be in a formation which three or four groups at each of the main squares. In each group were about 20-30 possibly. These groups would be decked out in riot gear, including helmets and batons. Mostly they looked bored. Then there were the big trucks. They are big metal with small windows at the top. There were some to carry the police-imposing so you know they are coming, and some to carry away prisoners. My roommate told me 4 people were killed in a small town in the rural area because of the protest, and many others say the strike failed. The whole intent was to stay home and not go to work. Some the streets were emptier and some Egyptians I talked to said the 6th of October Bridge was almost empty-which as the main bridge in Cairo never happens.

Here is what others on the web are saying-both news and blogs:

http://www.omraneya.net/node/40394
It is a call for a strike listing the grievances that this blogger has with the government. It is found on an Egyptian blog aggregator. The blog is by Queen O Danile. It has an oppostitionist and religious viewpoint. And if you look at some of the other posts, you can find links to other articles.

http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/boy_shot_dead_in_egypt_protest_544543
Austrailian news source which reports on the town that my roommate told me about-Mahalla. It says that a 15 year old boy has been killed and many others wounded and arrested.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0409/p07s02-wome.html?page=1
An article that provides a little more information than the previous two. The article is about the election and it focuses on how the Muslim Brotherhood have been kept from running in it, but it also talks about the ritos that happened just prior. It seems that several protests were organized aroudnt he same time. Intellectuals and actviststs tried to coordinate with labor but the protests mainly was disorganized and failed. It started in Mahalla at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company, in upper egypt. And then the protest was put down violently.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/06/africa/egypt.php?page=1
Slightly different article than the CSMonitor. It takes a view that the protests were more successful and that there is more potential for the masses. It is a more optomistic. The protests occured at the universities, syndicates in Tahrir square, and in Mahalla. It reports similar events but talks about how technology was used to facilitate the spread of the strike. And the street they mention, Adly, is right near mine.

http://arabist.net/archives/2005/02/22/protest-follow-up-egyptian-press-review/
This is a popular Egyptian blog. This post covers the protest at Cairo Univesity (at which the author attended) and then analyzes the coverage by the Egyptian press. This and the previous post also mention the Kifaya group which helped organize the protests.
Links for Egyptian press:
Can't find anything on Ahram in english about the protest
Al Masri Al Youm (English-but nothing may come up for this link)
AlWafd (I think this is the article-its in Arabic)

Many groups are claiming this is the largest protests yet against Mubarak, but I have heard just as much that the strike failed. Maybe it's both, but it shows that the government still has a clamp on the oppostition activity. But regardless of opposition or governmental activity nobody has stopped food prices from rising, people from living in poverty, or the suffering in Egypt in general.