The board of the Police Club held a meeting on Saturday to assess its stance towards the mass demonstrations called for 30 June by the Tamarod campaign and supported by the vast majority of opposition parties and groups, and towards the counter-demonstration that pro-Morsi Islamist forces intend to hold on the same day, reports Ahmed Morsy. “We pledge to remain neutral towards protesting forces,” club spokesman Mohamed Al-Tnobi told Al-Ahram Weekly. “We are also committed to non-violence towards peaceful demonstrators.” The club's board, headed by Major Salah Zeyada, called on all political forces to respect public property and protest peaceably. In order to underline their neutrality, policemen will not be guarding the premises of any political party on 30 June. “We will not protect political premises or party headquarters. Our role is to secure vital installations and facilities, police stations and prisons,” the Police Club board announced on its Facebook page on Saturday. Major Zeyada said: “We will not tolerate any criminal attempts to encroach on police stations or prisons,” said Zeyada. “We are upgrading our weapons accordingly in all of Egypt's governorates.” The published statement reflects a determination that scenes that came to characterise the 25 January Revolution — police forces attacking peaceful protesters and reprisal attacks on police stations — will not be repeated. Al-Tnobi warned that chaos in the streets would not be allowed and anyone attacking peaceful demonstrators would be dealt with forcibly. Following the arrival of the father of one of three missing officers — Captain Mohamed Al-Gohari, Captain Sherif Al-Maadawi and Lieutenant Mohamed Hussein — abducted in North Sinai in the early days of the 2011 revolution, many participants expressed their anger at the authorities' failure to thoroughly investigate the men's disappearance. According to eyewitness reports the officers were ambushed by masked men on 4 February 2011 near Arish. The mood was further soured by the death, just 10 days ago, of Captain Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Abu Shakra, a 30-year-old officer with the anti-terrorism department of the National Security Apparatus, murdered in an attack by as yet unidentified militants close to the scene of the earlier abductions. The abducted officer's father itemised the neglect of the official institutions charged with dealing with his son's disappearance. His account was greeted by chants of “leave”, referring to President Mohamed Morsi, and “down, down with the guide”, referring to Mohamed Badie, the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood who many consider Egypt's real ruler. “We will give the Interior Ministry 10 days to advance the investigation into the abductions,” announced the Police Club's board. Its members warned of an angry reaction if no progress was made. “Officers who have died on duty, who sacrificed their lives for Egypt and its people, their sacrifices cannot be in vain,” the board warned in a statement. Sinai, it continued, will remain in a state of insecurity until kidnappers are brought to justice. “Despite deteriorating security conditions in Sinai many honourable police officers have expressed willingness to work in the peninsula to maintain security even if it costs them their lives,” Zeyada told the meeting.
