Hosni Mubarak may be gone from Cairo, but demonstrators aren't finished yet. Protests haven't stopped, instead changing their focus on Sunday to state-run offices. Demonstrators have now turned their attention to Egypt's public institutions, including its banks, stock market, insurance companies, and other functions. A bank holiday was declared on Monday, after the Egyptian pound had barely resumed trading, as workers went on strike to protest poor pay and substandard working conditions.
Reuters reported that the demonstrations moved from the political arena to the financial as angry workers showed their displeasure with salaries and unfair labor practices.
Although banking had resumed on Sunday, trading demand for the Egyptian pound was slow, with little demand, thanks to the institution of new regulations on fund transfers to outside the country. Designed as a hedge against money laundering and political withdrawals of funds, the measures build in a delay on any attempt to take money out of the country. Egyptians must now wait five days before money is transferred; previously the wait was two days. Demonstrations, however, caused banks not to reopen on Monday. Tuesday, an official holiday that commemorates the birth of the prophet Muhammad, was already designated a bank holiday.
Demonstrators who had chanted, "Leave, leave, leave!" before Mubarak's abdication turned their focus to their bosses at other financial institutions. Workers outside a state-run insurance company were demanding the departure of their bosses, blaming them for poor salaries, outsourcing, and other practices. Sit-ins and strikes also plagued other public institutions from the postal service to the railways.
Hisham Ramez, the deputy central bank governor, said that employees were demanding higher salaries at state-run banks. Tarek Amer, chairman of Egypt's largest commercial bank, the state-owned Bank of Egypt, handed in his resignation on Sunday after being blocked from his office by angry employees. The central bank had not yet accepted his resignation. Banque Misr was also targeted by chanting demonstrators.
The public sector employs approximately 5.7 million people.
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