Qena demonstrators ended their sit-in after the government froze the activities of the newly appointed governor, reports Mohamed Abdel-Baky The Egyptian government decided to suspend Emad Shehata Mikhail, the new governor of Qena for three months, thus ending protests that paralysed Upper Egypt for 10 days. The protesters agreed to unblock railway tracks and highways for the first time since last week. In a statement, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said he asked Qena governor's deputy, Maged Abdel-Karim, to take charge until further notice. Sharaf urged residents of Qena to end their sit- in and respect the rights of other inhabitants of the city and neighbouring towns seeking access to services that were severely disrupted during the demonstrations. Qena protesters demanded that Mikhail, a Christian who had been appointed just a week earlier in a shuffle of Egypt's governors, be replaced by a civil Muslim governor. Mikhail was also criticised for his links to the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. Prior to the revolution that eventually brought Mubarak down, Mikhail was deputy chief of Giza security directorate. Some media reports cited sources saying that Mikhail was involved in the killing of pro- democracy protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced Mubarak to step down on 11 February. Mikhail denied the allegations, saying that he was "ready to be tried" if there was any evidence tying him to the deaths of peaceful protesters. Protests against Mikhail were begun by groups of families and representative of various political forces. A large number of Muslim Brotherhood members and Salafists joined the protests on 16 April. The strikes paralysed the Upper Egypt railway system as protesters blocked the railway tracks and prevented trains from coming from Luxor and Aswan as well as from Cairo. Thousands of people were unable to visit their families in Qena and Aswan during the Coptic holiday on Sunday because of blocked railways and highways. The crisis in Qena started after Mikhail was sworn in on 14 April as part of a reshuffle. Eighteen new governors were appointed. Two moved to other governorates, while seven remained in their posts. Residents of Alexandria, Qena, Daqahliya and Minya rejected the appointments. Residents of Qena and Daqahliya protested at the appointment of Mikhail and Mohsen Hafzi, two former police officers. But suspending the governor for three months was not enough to completely end the Qena protests. Hundreds of residents camped in front of the governor's building calling for the resignation of Mikhail and the appointment of a new Muslim governor. On Tuesday morning, employees in the governorate's office managed to enter the building for the first time since the demonstrations began and railway stations were reopened for the first time since 15 April. Last week, the ruling Higher Council of the Armed Forces (HCAF) sent Islamic preachers Mohamed Hassan and Safwat Hegazi, along with former parliamentarian Mustafa Bakri, to talk with protesters in Qena. The delegation failed to reach an agreement. Experts see the Qena crisis as a serious lack of authority on the part of the interim government which eventually bowed to the demands of the protesters. "Since the revolution the language of protests has been dominating Egypt's life," said Amr El-Shobaki, expert at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. "The interim government should have taken more time before reaching a decision and should have consulted with local leaders." El-Shobaki added that the government and the HCAF should operate outside the rules that have governed Egypt for the past 30 years. "Some viewed the decision to select Essam Sharaf as prime minister as adventurous; the same adventurous spirit should be used in selecting governors," El-Shobaki said. Some experts believe that at present it is hard to control protests because they could shake the stability of Egypt. Political analyst Diaa Rashwan said that the current government has no option during the next six months, before presidential elections, but to respond to the protests in order to keep the country stable. But Rashwan added that during the first three days of the Qena crisis the response of the government was poor and that no one, either from the government or the HCAF, bothered to issue even a statement. "It is important to protect the government's prestige but at the same time it should not take provocative decisions like appointing unpopular officials in sensitive places."
