Release the Tora Cement Workers… Strikes and Sit-ins Are a Right

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

The Revolutionary Socialists strongly condemn the urgent referral of 32 workers from Tora Cement Company to trial on May 28 on charges of a show of force, using violence against public officials, and assaulting police forces following their 55-day sit-in protesting their dismissal.

These temporary workers, known as “contract labor,” have worked at the company for ten years. They were arrested during a military-style operation when security forces stormed the company premises. Armored vehicles pursued the workers across the site, and police officers beat them and hurled insults to break up the protest. The workers began their sit-in after the company’s foreign management (Lafarge) informed them that they would be laid off and replaced with workers from a military-affiliated company.

Despite their long struggle for permanent employment, the workers had already secured a court ruling last year affirming their right to be hired permanently—but the company has refused to implement the verdict.
The movement stresses that the military regime’s repression of social movements reflects its economic policies, rooted in brutal neoliberalism and driven by IMF directives, which favor the wealthy at the expense of the working class and the poor. These policies have pushed millions into poverty through relentless price hikes, and the regime relies on repression to silence protests and maintain control.
The Revolutionary Socialists call on political, labor, and human rights groups to stand in solidarity with the cement workers and all activists facing repression.

They reaffirm that Egypt’s workers—who have long led the fight for the redistribution of wealth and resisted privatization and impoverishment—can stand up to Sisi’s tyranny if they unite.
History teaches us that no ruler can remain in power through repression, no matter how brutal. Sooner or later, the people will rise against him.
Today, we must stand at the forefront with the cement workers in their struggle, which is also our collective fight against tyranny. Together, we must work toward building a social and political coalition to confront this fierce assault on Egypt’s laborers.
Release the Cement Workers… Strikes Are a Right, Not a Crime
Free All Detainees
Long Live the Struggle of the Working Class