A young Muslim Brotherhood activist who was in Mahalla during the April uprising…

There was confusion in the group on the position regarding the April 6 strike. Yes, there was a strong conflict… Mahdi Akef’s statement was vague, and this was dileberate, so that those who are against the strike would regard it as an anti-strike statement, and those who supported the strike would see it as a pro-strike call.
Ezzat’s interview (with Ikhwan Online) was directly against the strike. But this caused a crisis. His initial interview had very harsh criticism of those who supported the strike that was close to denunciation, and almost no mention of Akef’s statement. The editors of Ikhwan Online took down the interview shortly after, and re-edited it and changed the URL address so as not to point to the old version (of the interview) anymore.
There were some Muslim Brotherhood members who took to the streets in Mahalla that day, although they were not necessarily told specifically to do so. They participated as “individuals” but not as a “group.” The problem is the security attacked all the town, so the whole town responded back. Everyone was hit, including Muslim Brothers members of course.

I’m certain the current labor militancy is causing splits among the MB along class lines, amid disenchantment among a good number in the rank and file, some of whom I know in person, over the retreat in the face of the regime and the very weak mobilization against the military tribunals and continued police crackdowns.. It’ll be interesting to see how this evolves in the near future…