CAIRO - A new group of activists Sunday announced plans to stage a massive protest outside the Egyptian Cabinet building in central Cairo this month against rising food prices and what they termed as the “exploitation of traders”.
The group, called the Free Public Front, said the August 9 protest would be staged against the backdrop of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan-induced price hikes on the nation’s markets.
“We’ll go to the Cabinet to complain against these rising prices, which had beggared the majority of the population of this country,” said Essam el-Sherif, the official spokesman for the group.
“We’re fed up with price hikes on all occasions,” he added in statements to the press. Egypt has been awash with such protests over the last few years where citizens complained against all sorts of things, including food price hikes, inadequate bread, and privatisation.
El-Sherif’s colleagues will bring empty cooking vessels and spoons with them to the protest in their bid to reflect what they called the “overwhelming hunger” that is sweeping the nation because of high prices.
He said other protest groups, such as April 6, had vowed to participate in the protest.
