The revolution in Egypt is gaining new momentum.

The strikes that began in the summer have stepped up. The hated Hosni Mubarak is on trial. And steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz was sentenced to ten years in jail on Thursday of last week for corruption.

“Strikes are breaking out all over the place,” Sameh Naguib, a member of the Revolutionary Socialists in Cairo, told Socialist Worker.

“The government is running around trying to give concessions to stop strikes even before they take place.”

Schools and colleges have been one focus of strikes and protests, including the elite American University in Cairo.

There, striking college staff united with protesting students who occupied parts of the university.

As well as protesting over pay, contracts and student fees, the action was over management corruption and members of state security still holding positions in the college.

One demand was for an investigation into the snipers witnessed shooting at demonstrators in Tahrir Square from rooftops in the university campus.