Policemen’s associations express solidarity with Sharqiya protest
Courtesy: MENA
 

Security forces were dispatched to the sit-in outside the Sharqiya Security Directorate on Sunday, where hundreds of police protested against their working conditions. Numerous solidarity statements from policemen’s associations across the country were also issued.

Local media reports — from both private and state-owned new outlets — indicate that delegates from policemen’s associations in the governorates of Cairo and Sohag joined the police protest in Sharqiya. A host of other policemen’s associations, from the governorates of Alexandria, Assiut, Giza, Fayoum, Ismailia, Kafr al-Sheikh, and Qalyubiya, also reportedly issued letters of solidarity supporting the Sharqiya policemen and their demands.

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the Alexandria Governorate Policemen’s Association (AGPA) issued a letter of solidarity on Sunday urging the Sharqiya Security Directorate to heed the demands of its police protesters.

The AGPA stated that they are unified in supporting the “legitimate demands” of protesters in Sharqiya, while requesting the intervention of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to defuse this tense situation. They claim the Ministry of Interior is dismissing the protesters’ demands.

The privately owned Al-Dostour newspaper reported that a delegation of policemen from Alexandria had joined the Sharqiya protests, however, officials from the Sharqiya Security Directorate denied this.

Tens of police delegates are reported to have attended the protests in Sharqiya, to express their support for the striking policemen’s demands which include increased wages, improved health care, pension plans and better working conditions,.

The privately owned Youm7 newspaper, along with others news sites, confirmed the presence of policemen’s delegates from Cairo and the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag.  

The official webpage of the Interior Ministry, however, made no mention of the police protest in Sharqiya or the protesters’ demands. While this webpage lists the number of the policemen who died or were injured during the popular uprising of January 25, 2011, it does not mention the number of casualties amongst the ranks of policemen by other riot police troops injured in Sunday’s clashes.

Privately owned Al-Watan Newspaper described the protests as “a policemen’s revolution.”

A representative of the Assiut Governorate Policemen’s Association, Mohamed al-Assiuty, was quoted in the privately owned ONA News Agency and Al-Dostour newspaper as saying that his association “denounces the vicious smear campaign directed against the protesting policemen.”

Assiuty explained that officials from the Sharqiya Security Directorate described the protesting policemen as “thugs” and “a state within a state” — while dismissing the legitimate demands of these police protesters.

Assiuty told ONA that his association did not dispatch a delegation “owing to the delicate security condition that the country is going through.” This low-ranking police spokesperson commented that the policemen’s protests in Sharqiya are “not politicized” and “do not have any hidden agendas.”

AD

You have a right to access accurate information, be stimulated by innovative and nuanced reporting, and be moved by compelling storytelling.

Subscribe now to become part of the growing community of members who help us maintain our editorial independence.
Know more

Join us

Your support is the only way to ensure independent,
progressive journalism
survives.