Hundreds of imams and preachers from various governorates gathered on Sunday to protest before the Religious Endowments Ministry and cabinet, demanding that a bonus of 200 percent of their salaries be disbursed.
They also called for purging of corrupt figures from the ministry and establishing a syndicate for preachers.
Protesters threatened to submit their resignations to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and file reports to the attorney general against Sharaf for allegedly defaming religion, treating Copts better than preachers and imams, and responding to teachers' and public transport workers’ demands instead than those of imams.
“The Minister of Religious Endowments should fulfill our demands and defend us in the cabinet,” said Abdel Aziz Ragab, who is currently working on co-founding a syndicate for imams, saying that the bonus has been decided on by the cabinet but not yet distributed.
He called for removing corrupt figures who have been in the ministry since the rule of former Minister Hamdy Zaqzouq, and for establishing a syndicate to resolve preachers’ demands.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
