CAIRO: A silent protest that was set to take place at the Journalists' Syndicate Sunday demanding an increase in journalists' salaries failed to send out a strong statement due to the low turnout. Around 20 journalists gathered in front of the syndicate, much to the disappointment of Mohamed Abdel Qoddous, head of the syndicate's Freedoms Committee who described the protest as "trivial due to the small number of participants. Initially, the protest was set to take place on the syndicate s stairs at 2 pm, but, according to Abdel Qoddous, there were not enough participants. He wanted to cancel the protest, but the protestors present at the syndicate decided to go through with it. They started the protest as soon as I left [even thought] I told them not to as we were not enough to protest such an important issue, he said. Chairman of the syndicate Makram Mohamed Ahmed said the protest was needless because the syndicate has already reached agreements with the government to raise journalists' salaries by LE 200 starting February. Ahmed explained that a specialized committee at the syndicate is working to increase the minimum wage for journalist to LE 600. A workshop is scheduled to take place this coming Friday for journalists to further discuss the issue, and another conference will be held on Feb. 16.
