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 Hosni Mubarak was to be the party's only candidate in the 2011 Presidential Election. Mubarak said on 1 February 2011 that he had no intention of standing in the 2011 presidential election. When this declaration failed to ease the protests, Mubarak's vice president stated that Gamal Mubarak would not run for president. With the escalation of the demonstration and the fall of Mubarak, Hamdy El-Sayed, a former influential figure in the National Democratic Party, said Gamal Mubarak intended to usurp the presidency, assisted by then Interior Minister, Habib El-Adly. During his presidency, Mubarak upheld the U.S. brokered Camp David Accords