Postgraduate protesters calling for employment arrested

Three protesters were arrested in downtown Cairo taking part in a demonstration staged by postgraduates demanding state employment.

For the past several months, unemployed Masters and PhD holders have been holding occasional protests outside the Cabinet building and seeking to meet government officials to present their demand of public sector jobs.
 

More than 20 of postgrad protesters were arrested in late November, as their protest approached Tahrir.

Starting their protest on Monday at around 11am outside the Journalists Syndicate, a group of around 150 postgraduate protesters sought to march to the Cabinet headquarters. They were prevented from approaching by police forces, however.

Mohamed Sabry, an unemployed holder of a Masters degree in law from Alexandria University, told Mada Masr. “Not a single state official has agreed to meet with us since the arrests late last month.”

Attending Monday’s protest, Sabry identified the latest three post-graduates to be arrested as Adel Saeed, Hamad Mohamed, Mohamed Yehia. He stated that these three protesters were arrested by plain-clothed policemen on Qasr al-Aini Street, and are now being detained at Qasr al-Nil Police Station.

A bank employee was also arrested and subsequently released when authorities ascertained he was a passerby uninvolved in the protest, privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

The privately-owned Al-Watan news reported that the three protesters were arrested in Tahrir Square, after they concluded their march to parliament and the Cabinet.

Sabry denied these claims, however.

“We did not even approach Tahrir Square, as nearly 30 protesters were arrested near that square during our last protest,” he said. “We actively avoided Tahrir, and even rode the metro in order to not march through it, as we are clearly aware that the authorities do not want any protests there.”

Sabry went on to deny that the protesters had reached the parliament or Cabinet building. Sabry added that while the protesters had sought to peacefully march on Cabinet — but not parliament as it is not yet in session — they were denied access by a large contingent of police forces.

“We did not attempt to storm parliament or Cabinet as some media reports have claimed. These are baseless accusations,” he said. “We are not politically affiliated to any party or grouping. We only have one non-political demand, and that is that we be employed in the state’s administrative bodies, as the thousands of postgraduates before us have been.”

Sabry explained that some 970 postgraduates of the class of 2014 had recently found employment in state jobs, yet the latest batch of 1,500 postgrads of the class of 2015, himself included, has not.

In 2002, Cabinet decreed that postgraduates of public universities are to be employed by the state in administrative posts. However, over the years, thousands of these postgraduates have protested in order to secure these job positions.

A holder of an MA degree in law, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity graduated in 2012 and is currently employed in an administrative governmental post although she declined to name which body she works for.

“I had to wait a couple years before finding employment with the government,” she said. “Although I didn’t want to, I also had to join the street protests in order to end up in this job.”

In her late 20s, she said there are several postgraduates in their 40s and 50s who have still not secured such a job.

“We pursued our higher education, many of us with the expectation that we would receive decent jobs with governmental bodies,” she said. “We expected that the state authorities would value us as being highly educated and highly qualified postgraduates — capable individuals who want to help advance our country and government with our know-how.”

She called for clear hiring policies whereby postgraduates would be appointed to the appropriate body according to their specialization and skillset, decrying the nepotism and favouritism that she said continues to determine appointments.

The protest law is being used to silence and arrest posgraduates who have to resort to street protests and marches in order to find decent jobs with the government, she told Mada Masr.

Sabry explained that the objective of the unemployed postgraduates protesters is not to oppose the government, but rather to find work in the government.

“I call on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to intervene swiftly to help secure jobs for unemployed postgraduates,” he said. “I call on Prime Minister Sherif Ismail to help us find the appropriate jobs so that we can assist in developing the state’s capacities.”