Egyptians protest power outage with candles

Recurring power outages stirred dozens of Egyptians into action as vigils and candlelight demonstrations were organized in the capital and online campaigns were launched to protest the government's failed policies.

Dozens of protestors rallied Tuesday in front of the cabinet building in Cairo to protest the continuous electricity cuts that came in the wake of the remarkable rise in temperature and which the government sees as the only current solution to the energy crisis the country is suffering from.

Carrying candles

Protestors carried candles to express their indignation at their inability to use electricity and called upon the government to put an end to the deteriorating condition of public services.

Members of the April 6 youth opposition movement also organized a vigil in protest of the reduction of electricity output which, the government stated, will continue pending the end of the heat wave which reportedly increased consumption by 10%.

"We came here to protest the constant cuts in electricity and water," said opposition journalist Mohamed Abdul-Qudus, who took part in the protest.

"The government is responsible for providing those services, but it failed in doing so."

According to experts, there has recently been an increasing demand on electricity in Egypt, especially since it is the most populous country in the Arab world.

The increased consumption, officials say, led to the breakdown of several generators in the electricity network, which in turn triggered the power outages that sometimes last for more than two hours each time.

The spokesman of Egypt's Ministry of Electricity refused to talk to Al Arabiya, but the government pledged to shortly unravel a plan to deal with the problem. The ministry also called upon Egyptians to reduce electricity consumption.

Enough electricity cuts

Angry youths, meanwhile, launched a campaign on the social networking website Facebook and called it "Enough electricity cuts… Egypt can't see its people."

The campaign slams the government for its consumption reduction demands and accuses it of renouncing its responsibility towards the citizens.

"The government is laying the blame on us," wrote one of the members. "They claim it is our use of air conditions that triggered that although in the U.S. and the Gulf they use three times the number we have and not even half of this happens there."

The group, which attracted more than 15,000 members in a few days, says in its description, "Egypt can't see its people. Don't blame it. Those who don't have the power can't provide it. Egypt is tied up and helpless. Blame those who stifle it."


(Translated from the Arabic by Sonia Farid)