Egyptian doctors vote for free hospital care in police assault protest

Egypt's doctors, angered by what they said was the growing problem of police violence in hospitals, have planned more demonstrations this week after more than 4000 gathered on Friday to demand police accountability and the health minister's resignation. They voted to start a campaign of strikes across Egypt if their demands were not met in two weeks.

Doctors filled all three floors, the roof, and the streets outside the Cairo headquarters of their union, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate. Many were carrying placards and others had their hands bound with stethoscopes.

The “unprecedented” turnout marked “a turning point in our union’s history,” the syndicate's chairman, Hussein Khairy, said. The protest was in defiance of the military backed government’s ban on public demonstrations, but there was no police response.

The doctors' protest was triggered by the 28 January …