The protests calling for President Hosni Mubarak's ouster have been spreading since Tuesday outside of Cairo's Tahrir Square, where they have been concentrated for the past week. On Wednesday, demonstrators also gathered at parliament, the Cabinet and the Health Ministry buildings, all a few blocks from the square. Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq was working out of the Civil Aviation Ministry on the other side of the city because his office was blocked by protesters.
For the first time, protesters were forcefully urging labor strikes despite a warning by Vice President Omar Suleiman that calls for civil disobedience are very dangerous for society and we can't put up with this at all. His warnings Tuesday were taken by protesters as a thinly veiled threat of another crackdown.
Strikes erupted in a breadth of sectors ? among railway and bus workers, state electricity staff and service technicians at the Suez Canal, in factories manufacturing textiles, steel and beverages and at least one hospital.
They were motivated to strike when they heard about how many billions the Mubarak family was worth; said Abbas, a labor leader. They said 'How much longer should we be silent?
ストライキは広範囲において勃発した。鉄道とバスの運転手、スエズ運河の電力技術者、修理技術者、また、織物や鉄、飲料の製造工場勤務者によって、そして少なくとも一つの病院にて引き起こされた。
彼らは皆、ムバラク一家が何十億もの財産を所有していることを知ったことで、ストライキを起こす気になったのだ、と労働者のリーダーであるアバスは言う。彼らは言った。「我々はあとどれだけ黙っていなければならないのか?」
Egyptians have been infuriated by newspaper reports that the Mubarak family has amassed billions, and perhaps tens of billions of dollars in wealth while, according to the World Bank, about 40 percent of the country's 80 million people live below or near the poverty line of $2 a day. The family's true net worth is not known.
Mubarak, tell us where you get $70 billion dollars," dozens of protesters chanted in front of the Health Ministry. Protesters with blankets gathered outside the parliament building in Cairo on Wednesday, with no plan to move, our correspondent reported. The demonstrators have put up a sign that reads: "Closed until the fall of the regime".
「ムバラク、どこから7000億ドルを手に入れるのか言ってみろ」、と何十人もの抗議者達が保健省の前で唱えた。我々の特派員によると、毛布を持った抗議者達が水曜日にカイロの国会の建物の外に集まっており、彼らに退去する予定はないとのことだった。デモ参加者達は「現政権が崩壊するまで、ここを封鎖する」と記載した看板を掲げていた。