The minister of culture has decided to close down the Sayed Darwish Theatre in the opera house in Alexandria and hand control of the venue over to the army until its employees end their strike, which started on Monday.

The minister has also decided to cancel the Arab music festival, which was supposed to kick off on Sunday.

The opera employees cite the corruption of the management of the opera house as the reason behind their action, arguing that while many employees receive around LE200 per month, others receive thousands.

Employees also have complained about the lack of internet and the lack of paper to print out the monthly schedule of the opera.

Many employees also demanded official contracts, since they have been working for years with very low wages. They have also revealed that they received LE50 as bonuses for the past film festival, while the managers received LE3,000 bonuses.