Egypt: Thousands of Mahalla workers march against Morsy

Thousands of workers from Misr Spinning in Mahalla al-Kubra protested against the Constitutional Declaration by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy on Tuesday. Workers rallied as they ended their shift and were joined by townspeople in a march which quickly swelled to more than 5,000 strong.

As the protestors reached Shoun Square in the town centre they were attacked by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, who threw fireworks at them. The demonstrators answered with stones and molotov cocktails (film below).

The mobilisation by the Mahalla workers marks a new stage in the current protests, and shows the potential for other sections of the workers’ movement to join the revolutionary mobilisation. The independent unions have also called on their members to join the movement, and workers’ leaders condemned Morsy’s recent moves to repress striking workers.

What you can do:

• Rush messages of solidarity to the Egyptian independent unions via EFITU (efitu.union@hotmail.com – please copy to menasolidarity@gmail.com)
  
• Use this sign to take a picture message of solidarity with the aims of the revolution – you can send the pictures to us via Facebook, email or Twitter (@menasolidarity) and we will forward to colleagues in Egypt:
• See our solidarity toolkit for signs you can print out in support of Egyptian workers’ right to strike and organise independent unions