Dozens of female government employees in Assiut Governorate in Upper Egypt were harassed by passersby Tuesday when they tried to block the road outside the governorate building to protest their dismissal from the National Population Council branch. Protesters said drivers passing by ridiculed and verbally harassed the women before forcing them to reopen the road. The protesters then moved their demonstration to the front of the governorate building. One of the protesters, Manal Mohamed, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the women had been demonstrating in front of the governorate building in vain for more than two hours before deciding to try blocking traffic. “We have been working for five years as awareness specialists at Assiut’s health department, but we were dismissed under the former regime as a compliment to Mosheira Khattab, the former family and population minister and a close friend to Egypt’s former first lady, Suzanne Mubarak,” Mohamed told the newspaper. “We were later transferred to the National Council of Childhood and Motherhood, which in turn sent us to a civil society organization for one year. After the revolution, the state signed permanent contracts for all those who spent three years in work, but we were sacked,” Mohamed added. Cairo - Al masry al youm