General strike marks Egypt anniversary

CAIRO, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Egypt appeared calm Saturday as activists called for a general strike and the government deployed soldiers and armored vehicles, observers said.

On the anniversary of the day Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president, supporters of the strike say not much has changed since his ouster, when the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took over.

Al-Ahram said the Egypt Revolutionaries' Alliance -- which includes more than 50 political groups, among them the country's six most prominent revolutionary movements -- joined with university and school students and independent workers' unions in backing the general strike.

"Since Mubarak stepped down, not a figure was punished for killing Egyptians; nothing has changed since one year, so we decided to go on a general strike," Amr Abdel Wahab, student union head at the German University in Cairo, told Ahram Online.

Political parties that won the majority of seats in the new Egyptian Parliament oppose the general strike and, more broadly, civil disobedience.

Muslim Brotherhood Secretary-General Mahmoud Hussein criticized calls for a general strike, urging people to work twice as fast to "rebuild the country and not bring it down."

"These calls are extremely dangerous and threaten the nation and its future. A general strike would see train traffic halted, no transportation, and no work in factories, institutes or universities," he said.

Egypt's state TV reported some workers were on the job "requesting more hours," Biyka Masr reported.