Cairo: Thousands of low-ranking policemen on strike across Egypt on Thursday refused orders to work and protested what they claim is the politicisation of the force in favour of the president’s Muslim Brotherhood party.
The strike, in its fourth day, is a rare show of defiance by policemen against their superiors. It threatens to unravel a security force already weakened by two years of unrest following the ouster of longtime autocrat Husni Mubarak.
For decades, Egypt’s police aggressively targeted the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups that were once outlawed. Policemen say they are now being forced to confront protesters angry with Mubarak’s successor,
In Cairo, dozens of policemen blocked the entrance to one of the city’s main police stations and expressed anger at Mursi’s policies. Others held a sit-in outside Morsi’s house in his hometown of Zagazig, northeast of the capital.
South of the capital, in Assiut and Luxor, policemen protested what they say is new Interior Minister Mohammad Ebrahim’s attempts to use the force to protect the Brotherhood.
Security officials in the Interior Ministry said that the former interior minister refused orders to direct police against anti-Mursi protesters outside the presidential palace in Cairo in December. They say that the Brotherhood was also enraged that police did not protect the group’s offices that month from being torched by Egyptians angry with Morsi’s handling of the drafting of the constitution.
