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Hundreds of Egyptian workers have gathered outside Egypt's cabinet building demanding a rise in the minimum wage, which has been set at $6.30 a month since 1984.
The protesters were calling for the government to implement a court order that would boost the minimum wage and help millions of poor cope with rising prices.
About 500 protesters in central Cairo on Sunday chanted: "We need wages that are enough for a month!", while some called for an end to the rule of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president for more than 28 years.
The protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations demanding more assistance for poor Egyptians and greater political freedom in the tightly controlled country.
The number of demonstrations by workers has increased from 97 in 2002 to 742 in 2009, according to the Land Centre for Human Rights.
Rising prices
Egypt's economy has grown robustly in recent years, but many people say only the wealthy have benefited.
After a food crisis in 2007 and 2008 that triggered bread shortages and protests, inflation has eased, but workers say their problems endure.
"Prices are rising and workers' wages are declining," Hisham Oakal, a worker from a factory in Egypt's Nile Delta, said during Saturday's demonstration.
"Meat has become a luxury item that most of us cannot afford."
Despite their limited support from Egypt's giant workforce, some political analysts say such protests could spawn new alliances, creating the possibility of political change before next year's presidential elections.
"This is why coordinated protests over one unified goal, raising the minimum wage, has the potential to galvanize disparate groups across sectors," Ahmed Naggar, a political analyst, said.
However, for many in Egypt, where UN figures put gross domestic product per capita at $1,780, the call for political change may be secondary to more basic demands for a better income and jobs.
PHOTO CAPTION
Egyptian anti-riot soldiers surround workers who chant anti-government slogans during a sit in protest to demand their government reevaluate the 'national minimum wages system' in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, May 2, 2010.
Al-Jazeera
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