Striking cops clash with anti-riot police in Egypt
Protesting police officers in Egypt have clashed with riot police known as Central Security Forces (CSF) in the northern city of Zagazig in Sharqiya Governorate, demanding the ouster of Egypt’s interior minister.
During a Sunday protest in front of Sharqiya’s security directorate, CSF forces fired tear gas at the protesting police officers, who have gone on strike since Saturday for higher wages, prompting the lower-ranking striking officers to respond by firing warning shots into the air, forcing CSF forces to flee the scene, the local al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
Four law enforcement officers from both sides were injured during the clashes, according to the report.
The two police forces are operated separately. The striking forces have won the backing of fellow officers from a number of other cities across Egypt.
This is while the protesting officers are demanding unpaid bonuses for the months of June and July, along with access to the same health care facilities used by higher-ranking officers, the report said.
The protesting officers demanded the expulsion of Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar and Sharqiya’s Security Director General Khaled Abdel Rahman Yehia.
The report cited “a senior security official” as alleging that the banned Muslim Brotherhood, tied to military-ousted President Mohammed Morsi, was behind the protest by police officers without elaborating.
Additionally, Egypt’s state news agency MENA also cited an unnamed “security source” as claiming on Saturday that the Brotherhood “instigated the ongoing strike” and “paid” the officer to launch the protest.
The source warned that the Interior Ministry “will take the necessary legal action against those who incited and participated in the strike.”
Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, was ousted in a coup engineered by then army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and has been sentenced to death, along with many other Brotherhood detainees, by his government’s judicial authorities.
Meanwhile, the report added, the lower-ranking policemen’s club in Alexandria released a statement backing their fellow officers in Sharqiya and urged President el-Sisi to interfere and end the current crisis.
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