Strikes Announced as Egypt Protests Continue to Grow

Protests Spreading Beyond Major Cities, Rallies Across Nation

The enormous protests in Egypt, once confined to a handful of the nation’s largest cities appear to have become a completely nationwide phenomenon now, as pro-democracy protests are being reported in previously quiet towns and districts across the nation.

Of course the center of the protests in still in Cairo, where the rallies continue to swell and indeed now have sparked strikes among government employees protesting the government’s refusal to allow free elections and end a multi-decade “state of emergency.”

Protesters have also set up a camp blocking the entrance to parliament, with Egyptian troops demanding them to disperse. The demands didn’t carry much weight with the protesters, however, who insisted that they will not leave.

At one point the protesters had welcomed the Egyptian military’s involvement, but increasingly that does not seem to be the case, as the military’s “supportive neutrality” position has given way to increasing hostility toward protesters and the feeling seems to be becoming mutual.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.