Egypte : multiplication des grèves ouvrières dans la foulée des manifestations contre Moubarak. La classe ouvrière donne un tour nouveau à la lutte. La première grève de six mille travailleurs du canal de Suez a notamment commencé... et tous les secteurs sont concernés : Textile, Tourisme, Santé, Employés, Ouvriers agricoles, Aéroport du Caire, Télécommunications, journalistes, etc... Le prolétariat est en marche. Nul ne peut dire jusqu’où il va aller.... WORKING CLASS IS SHAKING THE EGYPT AND ... THE WORLD...

Some 5,000 workers at various state companies – including textile workers, medicine bottle manufacturers, sanitation workers and a firm involved in repairs for ships on the Suez Canal – are reported to have held separate strikes and protests at their factories Wednesday.

Farmers in the southern governorate of Asyut voiced their support of the Tahrir movement, witnesses said, as did the Port Said protesters, who set up a tent camp in the city’s main Martyrs Square similar to the scene in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square.

In the capital, hundreds of state electricity workers stood in front of the South Cairo Electricity company, demanding the ouster of its director. Public transport workers at five of the city’s roughly 17 garages also called strikes calling for Mr. Mubarak’s overthrow, and vowed that buses would be halted Thursday, though it was not clear if they represented the entire bus system.

In front of the parliament buildings, anti-Mubarak protesters maintained a boisterous demonstration that began Tuesday, the first time the protesters have targeted a site other than Tahrir Square for a demonstration. Several hundred were preparing to spend the night on the street under makeshift plastic tents.

“This is the second stage,” said Mohamed Fadl, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and former member of parliament, referring to the demonstration outside the People’s Assembly. “The next stage will be to move to more centres around the city, to put more and more pressure on this regime.” That stage, he said, is expected to be on Friday.

Dr. Fadl, who lost his seat in the November elections widely criticized as fraudulent, was examining with his wife the many posters and placards that have been attached to the ornate iron gate at the assembly’s entrance.

Did he not think that such a display was disrespectful of the institution? “Yes, I do,” he said with defiance. “We mean for it to be disrespectful.”