Egypt’s ailing former president, Hosni Mubarak, lay on a hospital bed inside a cage of mesh and iron bars in a Cairo courtroom today as his historic trial began on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising which ousted him.

CAIRO airport workers protesting for better pay, textile workers on strike to demand a corruption investigation and residents living by the Suez Canal pressing for the closure of a chemical factory allegedly dumping toxic waste into a lake shows the wave of unrest shaking Egypt has continued.

Industrial unrest unleashed by the turmoil in Egypt continued today despite a warning by the ruling military that protests and strikes were hampering efforts to improve the economy and return life to normal.