Labor Actions in Egypt Boost Protests

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CAIRO — Labor strikes and worker protests that flared across Egypt on Wednesday affected post offices, textile factories and even the government’s flagship newspaper, providing a burst of momentum to protesters demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, even as his government pushed back with greater force against the opponents’ demands.

The protests at the newspaper, Al Ahram, by freelance reporters demanding better wages and more independence from the government, snarled one of the state’s most powerful propaganda tools and seemed to change its tone: On Wednesday, the front page, which had sought for days to play down the protests, called recent attacks by pro-Mubarak protesters on Tahrir Square an “offense to the whole nation.”

In the face of the unrest, the country’s foreign minister delivered stern warnings that seemed to reflect the government’s growing impatience with the protests.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit dismissed calls by Egyptian protesters and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scrap the country’s emergency laws, which allow the authorities to detain people without charge.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/world/middleeast/10egypt.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22