EGYPTIAN INTERRIOR MINISTER FIRES SECURITY CHIEF
Cairo, 27 Rabiul Akhir 1434/9 March 2013 (MINA) – Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has fired key security chief Maged Nouh following widespread sit-ins staged by security force personnel.
Ibrahim replaced him with Ashraf Abdallah, a veteran Central Security Forces officer Friday (8/3), al-Masry al-Youm reported. Abdallah’s first challenge will be to negotiate an end to the officers’ strike, the newspaper said.
The Interior Ministry also announced the army would take over the headquarters of the Port Said Security Directorate. According to IPU.com monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), the move came one day before the expected court ruling in the case of Port Said massacre, in which dozens of the city’s residents are defendants in a soccer stadium riot that killed 72 people in February 2012.
Violence protests in Port Said this week have left at least seven people dead and dozens injured, according to Ahram Online report monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), Saturday.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the ministry urge the people of Port Said to “calm the situation and ensure the safety of all government and private establishments,” al-Masry al-Youm said.
The sacking took place after “widespread protests in several CSF departments over the past 48 hours demanding that policemen be removed from political conflicts,” MENA reported.
According to RT, more than 30 police stations across the country reportedly shut their doors on Friday in the fifth day of strikes against the interior ministry, Ahram Online reported. A mid-ranking Cairo police officer said that he expected all police stations to join Saturday’s strike if their demands were not met by the end of the day, Friday.
On Thursday (7/3), dozens of Cairo policemen blocked the entrance to one of the city’s main police stations and spoke out against President Morsi’s policies. Others arranged a sit-in outside Morsi’s house in his hometown of Zagazig.(T/P03/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
