El Mahalla El Kubra living conditions. Beginning in April 2008 the city held mass demonstrations protesting the election results of President Hosni Mubarak, claiming election fraud and demanding better wages. Security forces were ordered to crack down on the dissidents, and in May they killed two or three in the city and injured dozens. Images of protesters in Mahalla overturning billboards of Mubarak were viewed by some Egyptians as a turning point in Egyptian politics, according to "The Washington Post". "The Observer" has written that protests in El Mahalla from 2006 to 2011 spearheaded larger political changes throughout Egypt. A Facebook group established by
Hosni Mubarak Judicial sources confirmed that the court had upheld a petition from Mubarak's longtime lawyer that called for his release. A day later, interim prime minister Hazem El Beblawi ordered that Mubarak be put under house arrest. On 21 May 2014, while awaiting retrial, Mubarak and his sons were convicted on charges of embezzlement; Mubarak was sentenced to three years in prison, while his sons received four-year sentences. The three were fined the equivalent of , and were ordered to repay . In November 2014, conspiracy to kill charges were dismissed by the Cairo Criminal Court on a technicality. The court