CUPE condemned the police killings and arrests of textile workers on strike at a large factory in El-Mahalla, an industrial town in the Nile Delta, in a letter to the president of Egypt.
On learning of the violence against the workers after the April 6 strike, CUPE urged President Hosni Mubarak to “stop the attacks on citizens and workers, particularly those at El-Malhalla, and to release political prisoners detained because of their labour and political activism.”
In recent years, the Egyptian government has increasingly cracked down on political opposition, jailing journalists and other critics, shutting down human rights groups and detaining political activists.
CUPE further urged the president to “guarantee citizens’ democratic rights to gather, strike and protest the failure of the government to guarantee a safe and dignified living, fair wages and suitable working conditions.”
Write to Ambassador Dr. Mahmoud El-Saeed, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Canada, 454 Laurier Ave. E., Ottawa, Ont. K1N 6R3, http://www.mfa.gov.eg/Missions/canada/OTTAWA/Embassy/en-GB/Feedback/ .
Send letters of support to the workers at 6april08@gmail.com. For more: http://arabist.net/arabawy/; http://arabist.net/arabawy/2008/04/11/protests-in-solidarity-with-mahalla-in-us-and-europe/.
