October 20, 2006
3 minutes read

Egypt: Police Break Up Peaceful Demonstration By MB Workers

About 1500 Muslim Brotherhood workers on Thursday October 19,2006, assembled in front of the Labors’ Union premises in Cairo to protest the government suppressive measures against the Muslim Brotherhood candidates who will stand for the Labors’ Union election begining of November.

The security forces sealed off the area of the Labors’ Union to prevent the workers from exercising their constitutional rights to demonstrate; they even stopped all pedestrians in the area and took their IDs, which created confusion and fear among the public.

The government’s suppressive measures against the MB candidates included the refusal of the state owned election committees to provide the MB candidates with necessary applications needed to run for the elections, or changing the forms without prior notices, in addition to other illegal measures which show that the election process lacks transparency.

In a statement to Ikhwanweb, MB member of parliament and coordinator of the MB Labors’ Union election Saber Abul Fotouh said “ This is what we always expected from the ruling party, which monopolizes power”. Abul Fotouh affirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood candidates will not keep silent over this farce and will expose such illegal practices by the government.

Mrs. Aesha Abdul Hadi, the minister of labor said that she will deny “terrorists and extremists” access to Labors’ Unions committees, words which show that the government is in for excluding the MB candidates from standing for the Labors’ Union election.

The atmosphere of the general assembly also smelled signs of suppressive measures and expectations that the election process could be headed to choosing specific candidates affiliated with the regime to win the elections.