Electricity outages across Egypt Thursday disrupted the bourse, halted commuters on the capital’s metro, causing further upheaval and anger over the problem that is plaguing the country.,

The opening session for Egypt’s bourse was postponed an hour due to the electricity blackout, Al Arabiya television reported, while Cairo’s metro lines one and two were not working due to the shutdown, an official told al-Balad newspaper. As blackouts continued during the day, reports emerged that an outage hit Hermil hospital during the visit of the health minister, Youm 7 news website reported.

Egyptians in the social media expressed their outrage at lack of explanation by the government, with renowned activist Wael Ghunaim writing on his Facebook page that “an urgent press conference is needed for the electricity minister to make, to explain to the public the magnitude of the problem….silence is not acceptable.”

One Twitter user said, “electricity outage in metros is wrong and wrong for one million times, and if repeated under any circumstances the electricity minister must hand in his resignations.”

Several districts in the capital Cairo have lately been going through daily power cuts lasting several hours while further south in the governorates of Assuit, Sohag, al-Wadi al-Gadid, Minya, Fayoum, and Beni Suef power cuts have been lasting entire days. Last week Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi sought to calm the population, stating, “I am sorry for the power cuts. I have the same problem at home and I promise it will be solved as soon as possible.

However, power cuts have driven Egyptians across the country to stage a series of protests, some of which blocked railway lines and highways. Youm 7 reported Thursday that Egypt faced a power crisis, with hydro towers are being plundered and destroyed by looters seeking electricity. Around 18 hydro towers have been destroyed in Upper Egypt, leading to further blackouts, which in turn led to protests by people, it said.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/09/231281.html