Journalists at Al Bawaba News said on Monday they had moved their labor sit-in to Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate after the outlet’s management forcibly dispersed their protest at the newspaper’s headquarters, an allegation the editorial board denied.
The dispute, which began as an internal sit-in over labor rights, has escalated over the past two days into a broader confrontation involving claims of physical assault, intimidation, and attempts to divide protesters, according to journalists involved in the action.
Wissam Hamdy, the newspaper’s investigations editor, said that late on Sunday nine personal guards entered the premises after most staff had left, with only three protesters remaining inside.
“They terrorized us, tied our hands, and seized our phones to prevent us from documenting what was happening, then forced us out,” Hamdy said.
At a news conference held at the Journalists Syndicate on Monday, protesters said they would continue pressing for what they described as legitimate labor rights. They said they remained open to negotiations with management, but only if talks led to concrete solutions rather than what they called formal or symbolic commitments.
Afaf Hamdy, a journalist at the outlet, said protesters had faced sustained pressure, intimidation and repeated attempts to undermine the sit-in. She said management, headed by board chair Abdelrahim Ali, had failed to present clear proposals since the crisis began, adding that the syndicate was the only legal framework representing the protesters.
Editorial board denies dispersal by force
Al Bawaba’s editorial board denied that the sit-in had been broken up by force, describing the journalists’ accounts as “false claims.”
In a statement, the board said it remained committed to a mediation initiative it had announced earlier, arguing that recent developments were intended to derail that effort. It also cited what it described as contradictory statements by protesters regarding the number of people involved in the alleged dispersal.
Hamdy insisted the dispersal happened, saying that after they were taken outside, their phones were handed to administrative security, which later returned them. He said their attempts to file official police reports were met with “incomprehensible intransigence,” raising fears, he added, that unseen pressure was being applied to block an investigation.
Syndicate backs protesters
Journalists Syndicate head Khaled Elbalshy said the outlet’s management had shown intransigence since the start of the dispute.
He said Ali and other executives not only rejected the syndicate’s mediation role but also asked him personally not to intervene, a request he said the syndicate “categorically” refused.
“They have closed off every avenue for a solution and even accused the syndicate of bad faith,” Elbalshy said.
Elbalshy said the syndicate had received more than 40 complaints related to what he described as arbitrary dismissals. He dismissed talk of liquidating the institution as lacking legal basis, stressing that the syndicate was not seeking to shut down any media outlet but to ensure negotiations complied with the law.
He also alleged that salaries were paid discreetly to staff who did not participate in the sit-in, while protesters were being penalized. He said the syndicate planned to publish a comprehensive file documenting the dispute and mediation efforts.
Alleged attempts to split protesters
Samir Othman, the newspaper’s managing editor, said management tried to split the protesters. He said some members of the editorial board made individual financial offers to certain journalists in exchange for withdrawing from the sit-in, including promises of wages above the minimum, which protesters said undercut management’s claims of a resource crunch.
A Facebook page titled “Free Space for Al Bawaba Journalists” announced that a group had withdrawn from the sit-in, accusing organizers of exploiting the crisis for goals beyond improving wages. One protester described that as an individual withdrawal under pressure, not a split, and said the sit-in would continue.
Othman said the dispute was a labor and rights issue, not a political one, rejecting accusations that protesters belonged to specific political currents, calling them “flimsy.”
Al Manassa tried to contact the administrators of the “Free Space for Al Bawaba Journalists” page to verify the claims and offer a right of reply, but received no response by the time of publication.
Journalists at Al Bawaba News announced an open-ended sit-in Nov. 17 to demand application of the minimum wage. Management rejected the demand, citing financial inability. The outlet later printed “the last issue” of its paper edition early last month, a day after it announced the company’s liquidation and the outlet’s closure.
The protesters said their demands go beyond the minimum wage. They said working conditions at the outlet’s headquarters fall below basic standards and that they work without health or social insurance, lack minimum rights to promotions, and have been denied promotions, bonuses, periodic raises, and legal profit-related provisions, including for some staff who have worked since 2012.
