Introduction

The Labor and Social Protests Monitoring Center monitored 17 protests, ranging from vigils to gathering and suicide cases, which took place during the first half of December 2020.

These protests were distributed geographically to a number of governorates all over Egypt, but Cairo continued to top the list, followed by Alexandria and Qalyubia among the 11 governorates that witnessed the protest cases.

Among the protest cases being monitored: 

1- Cases of suicide and self-harm for economic reasons:

Three cases of suicide, including two cases of self-harm, were reported:

• The first case took place in Qalyubia governorate where a worker shot himself for not being able to pay back his debts.
• The second case was in Damietta where a carpenter threw himself into the Nile because he couldn’t find a job in his governorate but he was saved thereafter.
• The third case: A driver in Sharqyia governorate tried to commit suicide after his vehicle was withdrawn by the concerned authorities, but he was rescued thereafter.

2- Protests/Vigils

Cairo and Alexandria witnessed the following protests:

• Dozens of students at the American University in Cairo organized a demonstration on campus to protest against the university administration decision to increase the tuition fees
• As for basic education, dozens of parents of Ibn Masoud Private School students organized a demonstration inside the school premises to denounce the increase in tuition fees.
• Dozens of workers at Alexandria Container Handling Company organized a protest to denounce the privatization of the company and the administration’s tendency to sell it and lay off workers, which ignited outrage among employees.

3- Gathering 

Five cases of gathering were monitored during the reporting period, which were distributed geographically on the following governorates: (Aswan – Beheira – Cairo – Gharbia – Giza):

• 1- Dozens of employees working at 911 Pharmacies gathered in Cairo to protest the non-disbursement of their salaries. In response, the pharmacies’ administration threatened protesters to report the matter to the police.
• 2- In Giza, a group of people gathered in front of a sports club in the Mohandessin district after the government decided to dissolve the club’s board. As a result, the security forces intervened and arrested eight individuals before referring them to the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
• 3- In Gharbia governorate, the family members of a person who died as a result of medical negligence gathered to denounce his death due to the lack of doctors in the health unit where his relative was lying.
• 4- In Aswan, a group of residents at Ballana village, Nasr al-Nuba center gathered to protest the installation of drinking water pipes next to the sewage pipes, which stirred the residents’ anger.  The security forces intervened, as a result, to protect the project’s engineers and workers.
• 5- In Beheira governorate, hundreds of people gathered to protest the decision to demolish their houses, in implementation of an engineering project affiliated with the Roads and Bridges Department.

4- Strikes 

The center monitored two cases of strikes in Qena and Qalyubia governorates:

• 1- In Qena, workers at Naga Hammadi Hospital went on partial strike to denounce the disbursement of their delayed salaries and incentives
• 2- In Qalyubia, Shubra al-Khaimah Bar Association went on strike and lawyers refused to attend court sessions to protest the actions made by the Shubra al-Khaimah Partial Court.

5- Sit-in

The center monitored a sit-in case which took place in Dakahlia governorate; as hundreds of workers of the Talkha Fertilizer Company staged a sit-in at the company’s premises after news were leaked reporting the selling of the company due to the increasing losses and the layoff of its workers. Negotiations between the workers and the company’s administration failed as well. The sit-in is still underway for the 13th day in a row.

6- Arbitrary dismissal

One case of unfair dismissal was monitored in Cairo; as Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper decided to dismiss 40 journalists, after the administration chose them either to resign or to be dismissed.

7- Collective complaints

One case of collective complaints was monitored in Alexandria, where Olympic club players filed a collective complaint for not paying their overdue dues.

8- The trade union movement

Two members of the Pharmacy Syndicate filed a lawsuit against the judicial guard and the syndicate’s appointed council, demanding to lift the judicial guardianship and to hold the union elections to choose an elected board that can solve the issues facing by the syndicate.

Protesting methods

The protests were divided among nine sectors: (the students sector – the health workers sector – the business workers sector- the sports sector – the residential neighborhoods – the press and media sector – the land transportation sector – the private sector – the lawyers sector), as detailed in the following table:

 

Sector	Number of protests	The governorate where the protest took place
Students	1	Cairo
Health workers	2	Qena Cairo
Business workers sector	1	Daqahlyia
Sports sector	2	Giza Alexandria
Residential neighborhoods	7	Gharbyia Cairo Damietta Qalyubia Sharqyia Beheira Aswan
Press and media sector	1	Cairo
land transport sector	1	Alexandria
The private sector	1	Cairo
The lawyers sector	1	Qalyubia