English: Work had come to complete halt at the factory, with 14 demands the strikers wanted. The most important of which were the following:

1-The workers wanted to get paid 45-day bonus, just like what their comrades in Mahalla were given. The management initially was offering 15 days, and then raised it after the strike to 21 days. 2-The workers wanted to raise their monthly food allowance, which had stagnated at LE32 3-The workers wanted to upgrade the medical clinic in the factory, which has been proven incompetent. 4-The company had stopped administrative promotions since 1995. The workers wanted this to be revoked, in addition to speeding promotions for those workers who managed to earned diplomas and university degrees. 5-The bonuses are a function of the production plan the workers have to complete. One big problem though was the production items were priced with 1960 prices (!), which makes the bonuses basically peanuts. We arrived in the afternoon. Before entering, we were receiving reports from the town about increased police presence, with security forces deployed around the factory and in other parts in the city. Rumors were circulating that Minister of Labor Aisha Abdel Hadi was to visit the factory to negotiate with the workers. We called the minister’s office on the way, but her secretary refused to disclose any details. The Kafr el-Dawwar Textile Company looked like a citadel/prison with high walls, surrounding the compound which stretches over 500 feddans. Within its walls, lies the factory, as well as residential villas of the managers and the company’s security chief. Plainclothes security agents were stationed on the gates, blocking access into the compound. We managed to get in, telling the thugs we were from the press. They allowed us into the compound, but not into the factory proper, where the strikers had taken control. We were instructed to meet the company managers, who were to decide whether to allow us into the factory or not. As we approached the villa where the CEO was living, I was SHOCKED to find out that the Kafr el-Dawwar State Security Police office is located INSIDE the factory compound itself! We were received by company chairman Ali Ghallab and his aide (from the Holding Company) Raafat Geneidi. The two were accompanied by an NDP official, Ahmad el-Sawi. They led us into the villa, whose entrance was decorated with Mubarak’s framed photo. The managers threw all the blame on the Muslim Brotherhood, and said the strikers were basically a bunch of thugs, who have taken the rest of the factory workers as hostages. “The workers inside the factory want to leave, but they are imprisoned by a group of thugs who are leading the strike,” Ghallab said. We asked for proof regarding the Brothers’ involvement, reminding the manager they hardly had presence among working class circles in general. The only thing the managers could give us was that fact that the MP for the constituency was Zakaria el-Ganaini of the MB. They also told us there were no hunger strikers inside the factory. When we told them there were reports of workers who are on a hunger strike and some of which had to be transferred to hospitals, the managers said these were old workers with medical problems who were passing out as the “striking thugs” were banning them from leaving. I tried hard not to crack up. Meanwhile, a young State Security agent came in and took down our names. We were getting increasingly anxious about getting access into the factory, and tried to pressure and/or charm our way in. But, the managers said it was not their call. “Go to the gates and ask the security there,” Ghallab said. The young SS agent advised me not to try, as he could “not guarantee my safety once inside. Those workers are dangerous,” he said. We took off in our cars to the factory gates. There were probably two dozens of plainclothes security agents, and a uniformed Special Operations general. We went to the gates, only to be told that actually it was not their call, but it’s that of State Security Brigadier-General Hisham, who’s heading SS in Kafr el-Dawwar. It was surreal. We were going back and forth between the SS office and the gates (and it was quite a drive, as the compound was huge). Through the gates, we could see the strikers inside the factory, may be a kilometer away. Around probably 2:30pm, some strikers who were roaming around outside the factory, trying to find a way to get inside, started assembling in front of our gate, seeing there were reporters. We rushed to interview them, and the security did not intervene. We heard horrific stories about lack of medical treatment, ultra-low salaries, accusations of corruption against the labor union officials and the management. In addition, the workers vehemently denied any involvement from the MB. “If the NDP gets a nightmare during its sleep, they’ll blame also the Ikhwan,” one worker said sarcastically. The workers also told us they’ve been trying to get food to their comrades inside. “We were initially banned, but then they couldn’t stop us, coz the town was going to eat them alive if they starved our brothers,” one worker told me. We were still standing outside, when we heard the news over the phone that the Minister of Labor had agreed to most of the strikers demands, and that Beheira Governor (and former State Security General) Mohamed Sha’arawy was going to come himself to tell the workers the news, and ask them to suspend the strike. Ahmad el-Sawy, the NDP official went into the factory. Few minutes later, we heard the fire alarm siren going off, shaking the whole compound. We learned later that the workers set it off, to alarm everyone in the factory to assemble to hear the NDP official. (Also, the workers during their strike used to trigger it every now and then to piss off the police, I was told later by a cab driver.) Suddenly we heard cheers coming from the factory, and happy shouts. Then, thousands of the strikers started running towards the gates where we were standing. They were shouting, cheering, and flashing victory signs. The workers started pushing the gate, which seemed about to collapse. The security was panicking, and still asked us not to photograph. A foreign newswire photographer just started snapping pictures, and we followed. I politely asked a State Security agent in a brown leather jacket to step aside, unless he wanted to appear in the photos. He did step aside. But already the professional photographers had run inside snapping photos hysterically, and I was tailing them. Those photographers had covered wars before, so what seemed like a tense situation to me, was probably nothing to them. The workers were euphoric, and were shouting “Long Live Justice!” Shortly after 3:30pm, the governor arrived in his black Mercedez, accompanied by a caravan of SUVs full of SS agents and his body guards.

He went inside the factory, assured the workers that the president “loved” them, and that Mubark intervened personally to diffuse the situation, etc.