Popular hashtags take sides on Egypt president's leadership

CAIRO (AP) — Tens of thousands of Egyptians have set social media alight with tweets on opposing hashtags, one calling on President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to resign and another praising his leadership.

The hashtags have been on Twitter's top trending list for days, but by Saturday the one calling on el-Sissi to leave his post carried some 279,000 tweets. The opposing hashtag had a much lower figure of more than 48,000.

The two surfaced after the government introduced a recent wave of steep price hikes for fuel, drinking water and electricity as part of austerity measures designed to overhaul the economy.

Frustration deepened last week after Egypt's national soccer team, competing in the World Cup for the first time since 1990, failed to advance after only two matches.

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