Interior minister urges rights groups to observe dispersal of sit-ins

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has urged human rights organizations to go to sit-ins at Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda Square to confirm that police do not use excessive force and that they uphold legal and international standards in dispersing protests, Al-Ahram reported Sunday. 

In what could be considered a bold move, Ibrahim met with representatives of civil society and human rights organizations inviting them to observe, in light of the ministry’s new policy which aims at “reaching out to all forces and currents.”   

During the meeting, the minister discussed the current security situation as across the country marches and sit-ins by supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi continue. He said the police have a commitment to self-restraint, stemming from respect for freedom of expression through peaceful protest and belief in the sanctity of blood.

Ibrahim also maintained that that it is the police’s legal responsibility to combat any form of violence or terrorism as well as attacks on private and public property.

The interior minister warned against women and children’s presence in the protests, but said the police only uses force in extreme cases, in an “appropriate and gradual manner.”

Late last month, scores were killed in clashes that erupted after police and men in plainclothes stopped an alleged attempt to block a bridge near the Muslim Brotherhood’s Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in. The Health Ministry put the death toll at 72, while the Brotherhood says 127 were killed.