“The ministry has already prepared an extensive security plan to secure demonstrations called by some revolutionary and political forces for 30 June,” Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said last week. Ibrahim added that the ministry will increase security measures at all vital institutions and facilities while avoiding direct confrontation with peaceful demonstrators since “we believe in and support freedom of expression in a peaceful manner”. On Tuesday, Ibrahim stated that police will not confront protesters during demonstrations planned by opposition groups on 30 June, the first anniversary of Mohamed Morsi's taking office. “The Ministry of Interior won't be a tool of suppression for any regime,” Ibrahim said during a conference for drug control police chiefs. Ibrahim also highlighted that the Egyptian police's major duty is to safeguard peaceful protesters as well as the state and security institutions. Moreover, he stressed that the protection of Al-Ittihadiya presidential palace is the exclusive responsibility of the Republican Guards. The minister's statements came a day after the funeral of a security officer killed in the Sinai Peninsula in which mourners — mostly police officers — began chanting against President Morsi. Captain Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Abu Shakra, a 30-year-old officer at the anti-terrorism department of the National Security Apparatus, was killed on Sunday by unidentified militants in Arish in the Sinai Peninsula. Mourners chanted “Leave!” when referring to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Angry officers at the funeral held on Monday at the Al-Shorta Mosque in Cairo's Al-Darassa district forced Ibrahim and senior ministry officials to leave the funeral following prayers. They had to pass up on the funeral's military ceremony. On the other hand, the Tamarod campaign, launched in May with the intention of “withdrawing confidence” from President Mohamed Morsi by collecting 15 million citizens' signatures, has called for mass protests on 30 June with the aim of ousting Morsi and holding early presidential elections. Several opposition forces and parties have announced that they will participate in a mass rally due to be held in front of the presidential palace. “We call upon the revolutionary and political forces to ensure protests remain,” a security source told Al-Ahram Weekly. The Al-Ittihadiya palace has been the scene of violent clashes on several occasions. On 4 December thousands of anti-Morsi protesters marched towards the palace demanding the cancellation of Morsi's constitutional declaration and of the 15 December referendum. A day later, on 5 December, Muslim Brotherhood supporters attacked the protesters. On 11 February, the second anniversary of the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak, demonstrators who accused Morsi of hijacking Egypt's revolution and of monopolising power headed towards the presidential palace where they threw rocks and Molotov cocktails. “If riots do break out the Interior Ministry has orders to confront the troublemakers with tear gas,” a security source told Al-Ahram Weekly. “The security forces that will be deployed in the vicinity of the presidential palace won't be armed,” the source added. There have been calls on social media networks to storm into the palace to force Morsi to step down. “Our duty is to secure peaceful protests. Security forces will also be deployed to defend critical facilities and state institutions. Using tear gas canisters they will prevent the protesters from entering the palace or climbing its walls. If the forces fail to hold them back, Republican Guards stationed inside will deal with them,” said the source Armoured vehicles and soldiers from the Central Security Forces will be deployed behind steel and concrete walls and barbed wire, the source added. “People will be barred from the vicinity of the palace except for the area's residents” and nearby shops, and the Heliopolis Sporting Club will be closed. Tamarod organisers said earlier this week that they had turned down an invitation from the interior minister to discuss the planned 30 June anti-government demonstrations. “Ibrahim contacted campaign members through a mediator in an effort to hold a meeting to coordinate upcoming protests. We rejected the invitation,” Mahmoud Badr, one of the campaign's founders, was quoted as saying on the official “Rebel” website. Badr justified the refusal by saying that the minister's loyalty was to the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which President Morsi hails. A security source has told the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm that 14 streets around the palace will be closed. “Fourteen streets are scheduled to be closed with concrete walls and barbed wire,” the paper reported. Tanks and armoured vehicles will also be deployed in the area. All leave for conscripts and officers has been cancelled until demonstrations end. “As long as demonstrators remain away from the palace gates, the security forces won't take on protesters even in case of clashes,” said the security source. “Inside the palace, if any of the protesters stormed it, the Republican Guard will face them with water cannons and warning shots.”
