More than 1000 workers of the Mineral Projects Company in Qalyubia yesterday staged a sit-in in protest against their company making half a billion pounds in losses as per the report of the Central Auditing Agency. They held the previous board of directors responsible for those heavy losses, and asked to refer them to the prosecutor before appointing a new board on Tuesday. In Assiut, 150 farmers staged a sit-in in Al-Hawatka village in protest against selling their 500-acre land to a Saudi investor. Security forces dispersed the protestors and arrested three of them. Ragab Abdel Azim, a farmer, said that the governor sent a committee with six police cars and four central security cars to seize the land that is the only source of living for 1,000 families. “We will never give the land up even if we have to die for it,” he said. Mohammad Salah said the farmers sold all their possessions to reclaim the land eight years ago, asking the officials to search for any other land to sell to investors. Mohamed Said, the farmers' lawyer, said the land belongs to the Agricultural Reform Authority and not to the Municipality, as it is 3 km away from any property of the Municipality. Assiut City Council President Gamil Othman for his part said that the properties of the Municipality are being determined so as to retrieve them, pointing out that the land referred to belongs to the Municipality and that the farmers put their hands on it. He denied any intention to sell it to investors. In Dakahlia, residents gathered to demonstrate before the City council in protest against the mayor of their village building a house on the main street, ignoring the decrees that the governor has issued to remove the building.
Mohamed Sallam Abed Rabbo said the mayor and his brother-in-law built over 25 meters on the main street where the residents live. Kamal Ibrahim Arafat said that the residents filed numerous complaints, and that the governor issued three decrees to remove the building but the City Council did not carry them out. For his part, Governor Samir Sallam referred the Engineering Department of the City Council to investigation, while the mayor refused to comment.
