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DEMOCRACY

ABB closes Egypt factories over unrest

Swiss Swedish engineering giant ABB said on Tuesday that it had decided to temporarily shut factories in Egypt due to the continued unrest in the country.

Published: 1 February 2011 15:46 CET
ABB closes Egypt factories over unrest

“As a precaution we have closed factories temporarily,” a spokesperson for the

group told the AFP news agency.

ABB employs about 1,600 people in the country, where it has an annual turnover of about $300 million dollars, and builds power generation equipment and industrial robots.

Separately, Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson declared on Monday that it has no evacuation plans for its employees in Egypt, of whom 85 are non-Egyptians.

“Our main focus is the safety of our employees and to be able to support our clients. We follow the situation hourly and see to it that our employees are kept updated,” said Ericsson’s Fredrik Hallstan.

“Our employees can work from home if they so wish. And if they stay at home they are kept regularly informed over the precautions and recommendations that they should follow,” he added.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians rallied on Tuesday for the biggest day of protests yet in their campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak.

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PROTESTS

Clashes mar rally against far right in north-west France

Riot police clashed with demonstrators in the north-western French city of Rennes on Thursday in the latest rally against the rise of the far-right ahead of a national election this month.

Published: 21 June 2024 08:58 CEST
Clashes mar rally against far right in north-west France

The rally ended after dozens of young demonstrators threw bottles and other projectiles at police, who responded with tear gas.

The regional prefecture said seven arrests were made among about 80 people who took positions in front of the march through the city centre.

The rally was called by unions opposed to Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party (RN), which is tipped to make major gains in France’s looming legislative elections. The first round of voting is on June 30.

“We express our absolute opposition to reactionary, racist and anti-Semitic ideas and to those who carry them. There is historically a blood division between them and us,” Fabrice Le Restif, regional head of the FO union, one of the organisers of the rally, told AFP.

Political tensions have been heightened by the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a Paris suburb, for which two 13-year-old boys have been charged. The RN has been among political parties to condemn the assault.

Several hundred people protested against anti-Semitism and ‘rape culture’ in Paris in the latest reaction.

Dominique Sopo, president of anti-racist group SOS Racisme, said it was “an anti-Semitic crime that chills our blood”.

Hundreds had already protested on Wednesday in Paris and Lyon amid widespread outrage over the assault.

The girl told police three boys aged between 12 and 13 approached her in a park near her home in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie on Saturday, police sources said.

She was dragged into a shed where the suspects beat and raped her, “while uttering death threats and anti-Semitic remarks”, one police source told AFP.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country outside Israel and the United States.

At Thursday’s protest, Arie Alimi, a lawyer known for tackling police brutality and vice-president of the French Human Rights League, said voters had to prevent the far-right from seizing power and “installing a racist, anti-Semitic and sexist policy”.

But he also said he was sad to hear, “anti-Semitic remarks from a part of those who say they are on the left”.

President Emmanuel Macron called the elections after the far-right thrashed his centrist alliance in European Union polls. The far-right and left-wing groups have accused each other of being anti-Semitic.

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