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Cairo: Very few Egyptians on Sunday responded to a call by anti-government groups for a general strike to protest worsening economic conditions.
Workers at a major textile company in Al Mahla Al Kubra, some 75km north of Cairo, cancelled a planned strike after a deal reached with managers, according to a trade union official.
"Workers realised that certain opposition groups sought to exploit their strike for their own political agenda," Mo'saed Al Feqqi of the textile workers' union in Al Mahla Al Kubra told Gulf News by telephone.
"Workers refused to heed agitators' call, particularly after the company's management talked with them. So they decided to cancel their work stoppage," he added, declining to give details about the deal reached on wages.
Over the past few weeks, several protest groups called for civil disobedience on April 6
On the eve of the suggested massive strike, the Egyptian authorities warned they would take "immediate and firm" measures against any attempt to "disrupt public disorder and jeopardise national interests".
Yesterday, scores of anti-riot police were deployed in the major squares of the Egyptian capital populated by more than 16 million.
Seven students were arrested in Al Tahrir Square, one of Cairo's thoroughfares on charges of distributing leaflets urging people to join the strike, witness told Gulf News.
Kefaya, a protest group, said scores of its activists were arrested to prevent them from protesting.
But around 400 people chanted anti-government protests at the Bar Association in central Cairo as policemen stationed nearby looked on without intervention. Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's major opposition force, stayed away from the protests.
"Our hearts are with the strikers, who seek lawful rights, but we decided not to participate," Mohammad Habib, Deputy Supreme Guide of the group, told Gulf News. He denied that the group's decision was made in response to the authorities' firm warning. "The Muslim Brotherhood has recently been the target of a security crackdown in which around 1,000 members were unfairly rounded up," he said.
People in Cairo went about their business as usual as car traffic looked relatively smooth. Cairo was yesterday hit by a thick sandstorm, which reduced visibility in some areas. Some parents kept their children from school for fear of clashes between police and protesters.
This Gulf News correspondent did not see a sign of a general strike in northern Cairo. A lone national flag hanging from a balcony was found to be celebrating Egypt's win of the African Cup of Nations last February.
"To judge how far the call for the strike succeeded, you must first know if workers really joined it," said Diaa Rashwan of the state-owned Al Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies.
"According to reports available, employees did not stay away from their work."
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