Nearly 200 musicians from the Arabic Music Orchestra and Egypt's National Orchestra demonstrated on Wednesday outside the Cairo Opera House to protest their low salaries.
Members of the Arabic Music Orchestra threatened not to participate in the 19th session of the Arabic Music Festival–scheduled for Monday at the Opera House–if their demands were not met.
Opera House President Abdel Moniem Kamil refused to meet with protesters, but scheduled a meeting with them for Thursday.
Protesters warned that they would boycott the festival unless their salaries were raised by 100 percent until new financial regulations–granting them salaries equivalent to those of Cairo Symphony Orchestra musicians–were put into effect.
They also insisted that demands they made two weeks ago during a previous sit-in be met. These included demands for social insurance benefits and the implementation of a new law regulating salary raises for state employees.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
