CAIRO: In the critical times Egypt is going through, there is a lot of talk about trade strikes against the Egyptian economy. While protests and sit-ins are legitimate rights, they should be avoided unless the protesters are provoked. There are three separate problems faced by Egyptians: firstly, the Egyptian economy cannot afford such protests during this difficult time; secondly, Egyptians have a legitimate right to protest and demonstrate and is permitted by law; thirdly, officials who cannot meet the demands of demonstrators and protestors due to Egypt's circumstances. Suggestions for these problems include: - Declaring Friday of each week for all groups to practice and demand their rights in demonstration in a specific place. - Each party can make banners and create petitions and a list of demands to be presented each Friday. - By creating an email account and hotline for all protestors to inform the authorities details regarding their demonstration so it is official at the beginning of the week. Volunteers can gather this information and send it to the authorities. - The Council of Ministers can choose an official from each respective ministry to go the respective demonstration and respond to protestors' demands. - Egyptian police should protect peaceful protests. These proposals will in turn achieve: - Commitment of workers to work seven days a week if they feel their demands are heard. - The right for any citizen to protest. - An effective form of communication between officials and protestors. - A reduction of number of sit-ins throughout the week by determining duration to consider the demands. - A slight ease in traffic during working days without sit-ins blocking the streets. - An improvement of relations between the police force and citizens. Israa is a prominent Egyptian activist. Arabic here
