Authorities at the city of Mahalla, an Egyptian laborers hub west of Cairo, beefed up security at the city's entrances on Tuesday in anticipation of labor protests.
Meanwhile, political groups in the city circulated leaflets urging citizens to stage protests and sit-ins to demand an increase in minimum wages and an end to the state of emergency.
Invitations for the protests covered buildings, walls and stores. Activists distributed leaflets attacking the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), labeling President Hosni Mubarak's policies a failure.
Some citizens exchanged text messages promoting protest participation as security agents removed posters calling for the protest from walls around the area of Mahalla’s hospital and high ranking officers toured the main areas of the city.
Activists from various opposition groups expressed uncertainty about how the 25 January protests in the city will play out.
Hamdy Hussein, an activist, said the main gathering point for the demonstrations will be declared around midday.
Three Al-Masry Al-Youm reporters were interrogated by security officers about the reason for their visit to the city and were requested to share information about their contacts there. The officers confiscated the journalists’ IDs.
In the meantime, police asked all hotels to submit information about guests who just arrived.
In 6 April 2008, tens of thousands of Mahalla residents staged a wide-scale strike protesting increasing prices and low salaries.
Protesters chanted anti-Mubarak slogans and set fire to the NDP office, as well as businesses, and schools. Press reports said the clashes claimed the lives of three protesters and injured scores of demonstrators and policemen.
