Egypt Day Of Action Marking Mubarak's Ouster Fizzles

(NewsCore) - A planned day of civil disobedience and strikes against Egypt's military rulers to mark a year since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow saw only a small turnout Saturday, but activists still pledged further protests.

The call for strikes in universities and work places came after a series of protests pressuring the military to transfer power immediately to civilians, rather than wait for presidential elections later this year.

Strikes in the main universities attracted relatively small numbers throughout the day.

"I'm on strike because of the dire situation in the country. There is no difference between the military council and Mubarak. We want them to leave now," said Mahmud Magdy from outside Cairo's Ain Shams university.

At Cairo University, roughly 100 students gathered outside a main hall, chanting "down with military rule" and "students and workers against oppression and exploitation."

State television said transport workers would not strike, and the state-owned daily Al-Ahram carried the headline, "The people reject civil disobedience."

Fayza Abul Naga, international cooperation minister in the military-appointed cabinet, said the low turnout showed that "Egyptians from all sectors rejected the call for civil disobedience," the official MENA news agency reported.

Alaa Abdel Fattah, a prominent activist jailed by the military for two months for allegedly inciting violence against soldiers, said the strikes were meant to deliver a message to Egyptians.

They were aimed at "supporting and propagating the idea of civil disobedience," he told AFP, adding that activists planned to coordinate with workers over further strikes.

The military, headed by Mubarak's long-time defense minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, had said it would deploy additional troops in response to the call for a day of disobedience.

On Friday, thousands of protesters snaked through Cairo to bypass military cordons and reach the defense ministry, chanting, "Down with military rule!"

Protests against the military, idolized immediately after the revolt for not siding with Mubarak, have heightened fears that the Arab world's most populous nation could descend into chaos.

The military issued a warning, saying it would not bow to pressure and adding that the nation was at "the most dangerous turning point on our road to liberty, democracy and social justice."

Young activists who spearheaded the revolt against Mubarak believe the generals will try to exercise power through a pliant civilian government after presidential elections set to take place before the end of June.

Copyright 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.