 'We should not call it a strike, though it is clearly an expression of the discontent felt by large segments of society.' -- Prominent columnist Salama Ahmed Salama on the 6 April strike in which thousands of protesters in the industrial city of Mahala Al-Kubra demanded an end to spiralling inflation of basic foodstuffs.  'I think it was a success, bearing in mind the pressures to which professors were subjected by faculty deans and university presidents.' -- Professor of chemistry at Cairo University Hani El-Husseini after teachers at state universities staged a largely symbolic work stoppage in protest at low salaries and pensions  'The Bedouins of Sinai are patriotic Egyptians and heroes of the past and present. They are the nation's guardian eyes." -- Head of the People's Assembly's National Security and Defence Committee  'It is unfair that we have to endure this hardship to get our needs of bread, the basic food in any family's three meals.' -- A housewife on long queues in front of bakeries selling subsidised bread that have become commonplace  'Wait and see what the Brotherhood will do.' -- Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef expectedly condemned the judgement of the imprisonment of the chief strategist Khairat El-Shater and a number of the group's financiers who received up to 10 years in prison. Members of the group clashed with security forces outside the court parent page (1 - 6 January 2009, issue #928) |