Police besiege protesting workers at Alexandria Textile Company

Protesting workers at the Alexandria Textile Company were besieged on Wednesday evening by a large contingent of police forces.

Hundreds of workers at the company have been protesting for the third consecutive week over the non-payment of their wages and their overdue annual bonuses. Last week, workers moved to escalate their protest by refusing to let any products out of the company’s gates until they are paid in full.

The privately owned Sada al-Balad news portal reported that administrators offered to pay workers their overdue wages for the months of August and September, “but are unable to pay their bonuses, due to a liquidity problem that the company is facing.”

The news portal added that, despite the company’s goodwill gesture, workers rejected the administration’s offer due to a lack of trust and the upcoming Eid al-Adha festival, when workers usually receive an annual bonus to augment their basic wages.

Written notices were hung around the company grounds informing workers that their paychecks were ready to collect, but not their bonuses. General Manager of Sales, Samir al-Khouly, is reported to have requested a large police contingent from the nearby Sidi Gaber Police Station to contain unrest and keep workers from marching or rallying outside the company’s gates.

In an interview with the privately owned Veto news website, Alexandrian labor rights advocate Suzanne Nada is quoted as saying, “Workers went to Khouly in order to negotiate with him” about the payment of their overdue bonuses, “yet he refused to do so and instead called for the deployment of police.”

Administrators had previously called for police back up on September 14, when riot forces fired teargas and live ammunition at hundreds of workers during a peaceful rally staged outside the company’s gates. Six workers were reportedly injured with lead pellets from shotgun shells, while a seventh was wounded by a lead bullet. Police also arrested 14 protesting workers during the rally.

The workers were released from detention the following day, pending criminal investigations by Alexandrian prosecutors. 

Quoting district prosecutors in Alexandria, state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper had reported that the workers’ rally was “unauthorized.” Prosecutors also accused them of “blocking roads, obstructing traffic and transportation, thuggery and terrorizing the populace.”