Egypt’s Interior Ministry said it will implement unprecedented plans to secure citizens and their properties during the demonstrations expected to take place on Friday July 26. Both pro and anti Mohamed Morsi protesters are expected to hit the street.
The ministry added it will also secure vital state facilities through intense security measures against Mohamed Morsi supporters.
In a statement on its Facebook page on Thursday, the ministry reaffirmed the police’s commitment to the people’s will and to the roadmap the people agreed to after Mohamed Morsi was ousted in a popular revolution.
Policemen stand side by side with the armed forces to protect the people as part of their full commitment to safeguard the nation against Mohamed Morsi supporters regardless of all challenges, the statement added.
Rights groups say combating terrorism by Mohamed Morsi supporters doesn’t require popular mandate
Several rights groups have expressed their concern about army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s invitation to the people to give him a popular mandate to combat terrorism by supporters of Mohamed Morsi.
In a statement they issued collectively, the groups said that Egyptian laws include articles that explicitly condemn all acts of terrorism.
Possible loopholes in these laws do not necessitate a popular mandate for the army and the police to work outside the legal framework; on the contrary, they mean we should work on boosting the law’s sovereignty, the statement said.
In light of the escalating violence driven by political religious reasons against “the political and religious other” during the past two years, it is necessary to evaluate the extent to which the political parties’ law contributes to this escalation.
According to citizens’ testimonies, police forces were absent during violent clashes on many occasions against Mohamed Morsi supporters, a matter that raises questions on whether this absence is a continuance of the selective absence policies which the police have been following since the January 25 revolution.
This selective absence does not require a mandate outside the law’s framework. It rather needs committing the police – by law – to do their duty to fight acts of violence and terrorism against the people by Mohamed Morsi supporters, the statement added.
The groups that signed this statement are the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of prisoners, the Land Center for Human Rights, the Misryon Against Religious Discrimination group and the Arab Penal Reform Organization.
Post Mohamed Morsi revolution: Gunmen attack Arish security checkpoint, three conscripts injured
Three conscripts were injured when unidentified gunmen attacked a security checkpoint in Arish’s Sheikh Zoueid on Thursday evening, adding to the latest violence after a revolution which ousted Mohamed Morsi.
Mohamed Saeed Fathi, 22, was shot in his left leg, Ahmed Saeed Abdel Maguid, 24, was shot in the stomach and the leg and Mohamed Eid Gabr sustained injuries in his right leg from shrapnel, a medical source told Aswat Masriya.
The injured conscripts were taken to the Arish hospital for treatment.
On the other hand, an eyewitness reported that there was shooting at an army checkpoint in front of a power plant in Sheikh Zoueid and there were reports of injuries after a rocket-propelled grenade hit an army tank.
