CAIRO: A protest and lecture held in Cairo against the Agrium plant in Damietta turned into a harsh critique of the regime which approved the project. Opposition members likened the crisis to the gas chambers of Nazi Germany. "It is a regime worse than the Nazi gas chambers. It is a regime which causes the death of the innocent and destruction of the land for this generation and the next one. It is the execution of the Egyptian state, said Deputy Chairman of the Tagammu party Abu El-Ezz El-Hariri. Damietta residents traveled to Cairo at the invitation of the freedoms committee of the Journalists' Syndicate to protest the continued presence of the Agrium petrochemical plant in the tourist resort of Ras El-Bar, despite the decision by the People's Assembly to relocate the plant. Protestors first gathered on the steps of the syndicate in front of a security cordon and chanted slogans against the plant, indicating in clear terms that for the people of Damietta, it was a matter of life and death."Stay away from us you thieves; all we have left is air and water. The government says Amen to thieves and the corrupt, the protestors chanted. After the protest, a lecture was held on the fourth floor of the syndicate to debate the issue as a wide array of speakers were given free reign to discuss various other issues. "We are not just in solidarity with Damietta, but with all Egyptians, El-Hariri said Attendees also debated the recent incarceration of members of the April 6 youth movement as well as the export of Egyptian gas to Israel. The government bore the brunt of the speakers' ire. "The regime that wants to build the factory in Ras El-Bar is the same one that is cracking down on Kefaya and arresting the April 6 youth, said Mohammed Abdel-Quddous, head of the freedoms committee. Other speakers were more specific in their attacks, targeting the highest echelons of the regime. Yehia El-Gazzaz, former Kefaya member and geology professor at Helwan University, said, "The era of corruption began with the policies committee of Gamal Mubarak. He must leave before his father. Hosni Mubarak is destruction that has past but Gamal is destruction that will come. All the speeches were interspersed and often interrupted by chanting from the crowd. And while other issues were given credence, the people of Damietta present in the hall remained adamant that they would resist the presence of the plant until the end. As the theme of the meeting was an amalgam of issues, it was stated again and again that these issues were all related in some way. "At a time when [Prime Minster] Nazif has given [Agrium] 11 million square meters of water, people in a town in Daqahliya don't have any water at all, said Dameitta native and Deputy Editor of Al-Araby Ibrahim Bassiouny.
