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29 March 2024

Two die after clashes in Egypt industrial town

Published
By Agencies

 

Police shot dead a 15-year-old boy in the Nile Delta and a man died from wounds on Tuesday, the first fatalities in two days of clashes between Egyptian police and workers, security sources said.

 

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif visited the textile town with four ministers, offering bonuses and more investment in the town's giant factory to placate workers angry over high prices.

 

The dead boy, Ahmed Ali Mabrouk Hamada, was standing on the balcony of his family's flat in Mahalla El Kubra, 100km north of Cairo, when bullets hit him in the head and neck, the security sources said.

 

"He was asleep on the third floor when he heard loud bangs and came out to check and suddenly he was hit by a bullet and fell to his death," said his uncle, Alaa El Shebeeni.

 

A doctor at the city's mortuary, who asked not to be named, said: "The boy died as a result of two bullets in the head. One entered below his ear and the other went from below his chin and penetrated his head."

 

A 45-year-old man wounded during clashes on Monday died at a nearby hospital from a bullet wound to the head, the sources said, without giving further details.

 

Despite the ministers' visit, about 2,000 workers and local residents protested after dark in front of a town police station, threatening more violence if authorities did not release protestors who had been detained.

 

Prosecutors had ordered 331 people held for 15 days on suspicion of taking part in acts of violence, which injured more than 75 since they began on Sunday.

 

The workers had tried to go on strike and protest against high prices but plainclothes security men took control of the factory and forced them to work, workers said.

 

The unrest in Mahalla has been the most serious during more than one year of conflict over pay between industrial workers and management. In most cases management has quickly made concessions to the demands of the workers.

           

Local people including many teenagers have joined in the anti-government protests, alongside the textile workers seeking pay rises to compensate for sharp increases in food prices.

 

The fighting continued into Monday night and Tuesday morning as protesters hurled petrol bombs at security forces. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.

At the Misr Spinning and Weaving plant, the team of ministers said workers there would receive a bonus equivalent to 30 days' pay. The labour minister praised them for not taking part in acts of violence, the state news agency Mena said. (Reuters)