Workers protest over wages in Egypt

Hundreds of Egyptian state workers took to Cairo’s streets today to demand better pay and conditions in the latest outbreak of unrest.

Outside the TV and state radio building hundreds of public transport workers demonstrated to demand better pay.

Several hundred protesters from the state Youth and Sports Organisation protested in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square with similar demands.

The Central Bank of Egypt ordered banks across the country closed following a strike by staff of the National Bank, the largest state bank.

The military council ruling Egypt says security and a return to normal are among its priorities.

Across the Nile in the Giza district, hundreds of ambulance drivers staged a protest, also to demand better pay and permanent jobs. They parked at least 70 ambulances on a roadside along the river, but did not block the main road.

In central Cairo, 200 policemen demonstrated for better pay for a second day. They also want to clear the name of the hated police, further tarnished by the deadly clashes between protesters and security forces. Some carried portraits of policemen killed in the clashes.

“These are victims of the regime too,” declared one placard.

The military council has called on Egyptians to return to work to save the economy after the 18 days of protests sent hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists fleeing the country in hurried evacuation flights – a major blow to the country’s biggest economic sector.

Today’s protests came one day after the ruling military rulers took sweeping action to dismantle Mr Mubarak’s autocratic legacy, dissolving parliament, suspending the constitution and promising elections.

The generals also met representatives of the broad-based youth movement that brought down the government. Prominent activist Wael Ghonim posted on a Facebook page he manages notes from the meeting between members of the military council and youth representatives, which he described as encouraging.

The military defended the caretaker government led by Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and stocked with Mubarak loyalists as necessary for now in the interests of stability but pledged to soon change it.