It was confusing. Cairo's notorious traffic snarls were gone, many shops and businesses were closed, the universities were empty. Riot police fanned out across the sprawling capital. And yet most of the demonstrations that had been scheduled to accompany Sunday's general workers' strike never really got off the ground, either because of low attendance or security concerns.

Even in Mahalla el-Kobra, home to the restive workforce at Egypt's largest state-owned textile factory, things were quiet until the late afternoon because a sit-in was aborted after security forces showed up en masse ahead of shift change. After that, however, wire reports say rioting broke out as angry demonstrators set fire to two schools, a tourism company and a truck carrying subsidized food. More than 150 were reported injured. Scores of people have been arrested, and other activists are on the run.

So, in the end, was the strike a success or failure? Was this a triumph for Egyptian workers demanding their rights, or another example of the government quashing dissent with embarrassing ease?

Here's what a few Egyptian and regional bloggers are saying:

Hatshepsut: State security and the Interior Ministry have not only succeeded in aborting today's scheduled demonstrations...but they have been arresting activists all over the country since this morning."

3arabawy: "Pigs abort Mahalla strike, HELL BREAKS LOOSE"

Tadamon Masr: "The wind of Mahalla blows"

6april08 mostly in Arabic; blog updated throughout the day

Sandmonkey: "Aftermath" (very good inside information on the security crackdown)