The Central Security Forces (CSF) conscript, seen above, stood guarding the parliament as Amonsito Company workers renewed their sit-in. The soldier was very friendly. Most of the CSF conscripts I encountered during the industrial actions (2007-10) were sympathetic to the workers' cause and could relate to them.
This is one of the main reasons for Mubarak's hesitation to crack down on the strike wave. It was relatively easy for the police to mobilize those impoverished peasant and worker conscripts against the middle-class activists of Kefaya. But it was more challenging when it came to housing eviction fights, and campaigns against the urban poor or industrial strikers.
On several occasions during protests I attended before 2011, the conscripts spoke openly about their hatred of their officers and their service. In one case at least, the CSF conscripts in Mahalla went on strike in January 2007, protesting maltreatment by their officers as the industrial actions flared. Following the revolution, they also staged mutinies.