"Egypt’s 2015 ‘anti-workers’ Labour Day", 2 May 2015

This year’s Labour Day witnessed a lower activist turnout as a number of labour movements failed to mobilise in the streets, amid heavy security presence. Although the official 27 April celebration of Labour Day, in the presence of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and leaders of the government-controlled syndicates, took place according to plan, the Egyptian workers’ movement in Egypt is still suffering from restrictive measures, whether legally or by force. The Revolutionary Alternative, a group with anti-government leftist inclinations, was set to organise a protest on 1 May in Downtown Cairo’s Talaat Harb Square. However, due to the heavy presence of riot police and informers, “we were not able to gather striking workers in different companies and factories, and the protest was transferred in front of the Press Syndicate”, a group member told Daily News Egypt...In front of the syndicate, the group distributed flyers and chanted against what they described as “the military capitalist regime”, condemning the latest decision by the High Administrative Court to force striking workers into retirement...