Egyptian textile workers and pro-democracy activists are calling for a day of strikes and protests Sunday, just ahead of local elections at a time of widespread anger at President Hosni Mubarak's government over rising prices and low wages. The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest opposition group, threw its support behind the strikers Thursday. The move raised government fears that the group is trying to position itself as a political vehicle for the widespread economic discontent. "We are with the strike as a means of expression and peaceful protest in the face of the despotic and suppressive actions of the executive authority," the Brotherhood said in a statement.
See "Egypt's Islamic opposition backs strike, hiking tensions ahead of elections", Katarina Kratovac, Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 2, 2008