Egyptian Police Strikes Widen

Several weeks ago, we talked about Egyptian police going on strike to stand up for their rights against the Morsi government. The police are still striking and many more have joined in. Egyptian security forces have had to spread around the country, as police walked off the job or took to the streets on Friday, angry at being blamed for crackdowns on protests against the Islamist president and accusing his Muslim Brotherhood of trying to control them. The police discontent adds one more layer to Egypt's turmoil and political disarray. In the south, a powerful hard-line Islamist group said its members would now take over policing because most security forces in the province were on strike. The announcement by the Gamaa Islamiya in the southern province of Assiut raised the possibility of Islamist groups moving in to fill the void left by striking police. Gamaa said its members would carry out police duties like patrols. Islamists in nearby provinces have spoken of doing the same. Gamaa Islamiya is one of the militant groups that waged a violent campaign in southern Egypt aiming to overthrow the state in the 1990s. It has since repudiated violence and became a political group after Mubarak's fall in 2011, but it remains tied to a hard-line Islamist ideology. The Assiut security chief, General Aboul-Kassem Deif, said the act of policing by Gamaa would be illegal and accused Gamaa of inciting discontent in order to improve their chances in the next parliamentary elections. Deif says such acts would be dangerous because the people would not stand for it. But he seemed to acknowledge he could not stop it. "I don't know what to do," he told The Associated Press. On Friday, strikes by policemen and riot police were reported in 10 of Egypt's 29 provinces, including strikes at several stations in Cairo - where police demonstrated in front of the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the security forces, and demanded the resignation of their boss, the interior minister, who they accuse of masterminding efforts to bring Islamist sympathizers into the ministry. In Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, police stations closed their doors and tacked up posters saying, "We don't want politics" and in an attempt to show unity with the public, "Police and the people are one hand." Police discontent comes after relentless protests have spread throughout Egypt since late January, following an earlier wave of protests in November and December. Almost daily, protest marches against Morsi have turned into confrontations with police in various cities, with at least 70 protesters killed. Each death increases public anger against the security forces, reported to have used torture against some activists. The force is already despised because of its history of brutality under President Hosni Mubarak. This has caused a backlash by many of the lower-ranking members, who accuse Morsi of using them to crack down on his opponents. Police officers in the southern city of Sohag marched in front of one station, holding signs reading, "No to the Brotherhoodization of the ministry." Police in charge of protecting the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the core of Morsi's support, have gone on strike, as have others who escort Morsi's motorcades. Some members of the Central Security forces - the riot police force charged with cracking down on protesters - are almost in a state of insurrection. On Thursday, protesting riot police trapped the Central Security's top commander for several hours inside their camp at the city of Port Said, refusing to deploy in the city against protesters. Port Said, at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, has seen the heaviest violence during the unrest, where a January police crackdown left 40 dead. Protests there in the past week have resulted in the deaths of eight people, including three policemen. On Friday, the military took over security in the city, with police withdrawing and riot police staying in their barracks. Because the protesters have more confidence in the army, it is hoped their presence will bring calm. But many fear a new wave of violence on Saturday when a court issues new verdicts and sentences in a devisive trial over a deadly soccer riot in Port Said in February 2012. A first set of verdicts on January 28 - in which 21 Port Said residents were sentenced to death - caused the city's first uprising because its population sees the trial as unjust and politicized. On Saturday, the court is scheduled to issue verdicts concerning 50 more defendants, mostly Port Said residents, but also including nine police officers. If the police personnel are convicted or handed heavy sentences, it will likely increase resentment among the security forces, who marched through Port Said on Friday in a funeral procession for a protester shot in fighting with police the night before. In Cairo on Friday, protesters and police fought on a main thoroughfare along the Nile River for the fifth straight day. ~~~~~ Dear readers, we know that Egypt is very unstable. The liberal, secular opposition says the disarray shows that Morsi and his Islamist allies are not qualified to rule. They have accused Morsi and the Brotherhood of imposing control without seeking consensus. Morsi's supporters, however, say the opposition is trying to use street violence to overturn their election victories. The police and junior security forces are lining up more and more with the protesters and against Morsi and the Brotherhood. When Mubarak was driven from power, it was the army that finally joined them to oust the dictator. We may now be seeing the beginning of a similar pattern forming against Morsi -- this time with both the army and the police joining in to bring down the government. The difference today is that the Morsi-Brotherhood ruling party have considerable popular support, something Mubarak lacked. This is what makes Egypt a candidate for the kind of protracted civil war now dragging on in Syria. The world should make every effort to prevent civil war in Egypt - but not by supporting Morsi at the expense of the Egyptian people.