How will Egypt police its police force?
Police assaults on civilians have put the Interior Ministry in the hot seat as the public demands action to curb police violence.
A recent string of cases involving police abuse against citizens has stirred an uproar in Egypt against the Ministry of Interior, which is responsible for police and security matters. Calls for reform most recently re-emerged after the May 1 police raid on the Press Syndicate in Cairo.
A review of other abuses perpetrated in the past few months reveals that most of those cases were personally motivated and not related to official law enforcement. One widely covered incident occurred April 19, when a dispute erupted between a policeman and a drink vendor over the price of a cup of tea. The policeman opened fire on three vendors, killing one and wounding the other two in the east Cairo residential neighborhood of Rehab City.
