Life has returned to normal in the governorate of Qena today after Prime Minister Essam Sharaf announced yesterday that he will freeze the activity of the new governor for three months.
After Sharaf’s announcement, a dispute erupted among the protesters over whether it was enough to end their 11-day protest in front of the governorate’s headquarters. After several heated arguments a decision was made to end the protest.
Today, and for the first time since the protests erupted on 15 April, employees in the governorate’s office managed to enter the building and railway stations were reopened.
The protesters have been demonstrating against the new governor, Emad Shehata Mikhail, because of his past as a police officer and because he is the second Copt to hold the post of governor of Qena. The protesters blocked both the Eastern and Western highways which led to the governorate and camped on the railway tracks, stopping trains coming from Luxor and Aswan as well as Cairo.
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