Egypt lawyers demand dismissal of interior minister

Thursday 12-07-2012 07:04 PM
Egypt lawyers demand dismissal of interior minister

Sit-in of lawyers in front of Nasr City police station - Aswat Masriya

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A sit-in by lawyers outside the Lawyers' Syndicate in downtown Cairo has entered its fourth day. The lawyers are demanding police officers who attacked their colleagues at Nasr City police station on 29 June be put on trial, the interior ministry be purged of corrupt officials and the interior minister be dismissed.

The sit-in began outside the Nasr City police station on Friday and moved to its present location at the syndicate building on Monday.

The sit-in will continue until the lawyers receive an official apology from the interior ministry, Magdy Abdel-Halim, of the Lawyers Without Borders movement, said on Monday.

The sit-in continues despite Monday's agreement between Lawyers' Syndicate leader Sameh Ashour and Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, to end tensions between lawyers and police officers at Nasr City police station. 

Lawyers had been staging a sit-in outside the Nasr City police station since 6 July after dozens of policemen and lawyers clashed on 29 June. The brawl, which left 16 injured from both sides, was reportedly triggered by an altercation between a lawyer and a policeman inside the police station.

According to Monday's agreement, sheriffs and police officers will grant lawyers "respectable treatment" in the future.

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