Security on ‘high alert’ for start of referendum Tuesday

The Health Ministry has prepared an emergency plan for the two-day referendum on the draft constitution, to begin Tuesday, Minister of Health Maha al-Rabat announced Sunday, state-owned news portal Egynews reported.

Rabat said that the maximum level of preparation has been called for in all hospitals. Vacations have been cancelled and hospitals have received extra supplies of medicine, blood and other necessities.

Ambulance workers have also been put on alert, with vacations for workers halted. Ambulances are to be available or near all polling stations throughout the country during the two days of the referendum.

A security source told the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) that a state of high alert began on Sunday. The alert will see security forces search polling stations and increase security around police stations, governmental offices and squares such as Tahrir, Nahda and Rabea al-Adaweya, to prevent the important areas from being occupied by protesters affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egynews also quoted Khaled Nasser, deputy of the elections department in the Ministry of Interior, saying on Sunday that the ministry has “widened its circle of suspects,” and plans to arrest “anyone who is suspected to have the intention to do something” that would sabotage the electoral process.

The Armed Forces spokesperson announced on Friday, on his official Facebook page, that the Armed Forces have made all the necessary preparations to assist the Ministry of Interior in securing the referendum.

The announcement came with a video showing military training and photographs of the forces that will participate in security for the referendum. Some of the soldiers in the photographs are wearing bright red protective suits, the likes of which have never been seen before in Egypt.

Although the official photographs were intended to inspire confidence in the Armed Forces, some commenters on Facebook wrote that the distinctive suits reminded them of characters from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, a popular children’s television show from the 1990s.

Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim also said on Saturday that the ministry, working in close collaboration with the Armed Forces, would guarantee “a security presence on every inch of Egypt’s lands and will not allow any attempts to tamper with the nation’s assets,” the State Information Service reported on Sunday.

In addition to securing polling stations, Ibrahim said security forces would secure all touristic and religious sites to prevent attempts to sabotage the electoral process. He was speaking Saturday at a meeting with other ministry officials to announce the final security plan for the referendum.

Unnamed Muslim Brotherhood sources told MENA that the outlawed group plans to sabotage the vote, according to a Sunday report in the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper.

According to Al-Ahram, the plan includes starting clashes with security forces stationed at polling stations around the country, and spreading rumors of violence in order to scare the public away from voting.

The anonymous sources said that the group’s plan is to put pressure on the security forces to cancel the referendum by planning nationwide protests and threatening to block roads.

However, the Facebook page of the Alliance to Protect Legitimacy and Reject the Coup, which represents those opposed to the removal of Morsi, has spoken only of boycotting the referendum, and has not mentioned any plans of sabotage or violence.

Those supporting a “no” vote say they are being targeted by security forces, and prevented from campaigning. The Strong Egypt Party, which opposes the draft constitution, reported that its members have been arrested in three separate incidents for possession of posters calling for a “no” vote. A total of seven people were arrested, but some have already been released, a party spokesperson told Mada Masr Sunday.