“Dozens of police officers took part in Sunday's protests in Tahrir Square, many wearing their uniforms,” Amr Ragheb, a police officer, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Their presence, argues Ragheb, represents a rapprochement between the public and a police force whose image had been decimated by decades of abuse, including the systemic torture of detainees and the killing of hundreds of protesters. Police malpractice is considered a key factor in triggering the 2011 uprising. “Now,” says Ragheb, “our stance towards ongoing demonstrations is completely different.” In a step that indicates the improving relationship and the return of confidence between the Interior Ministry and demonstrators, the ministry on Tuesday began gradually removing the concrete barriers that surround the ministry headquarters in downtown to prevent demonstrators from approaching its headquarters. In an interview with the Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Tuesday, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim confirmed that he had instructed the concerned authorities in the ministry to lift the barriers. Ibrahim linked the timing of removing the concrete blocks to the removal of the “psychological barriers between the citizen and the officers” in the wake of the ministry's stance of “siding with the will of the great Egyptian people who took to the streets in huge crowds that dazzled the world”. The shift, say security analysts, reflects the realisation on the part of some police officers that they must win public confidence if they are ever to operate effectively. Officers are also unhappy that, just as in cases in which protesters have been killed, there have been no thorough investigations into the deaths of policemen. It is the wholesale absence of justice, they say, that has fuelled anti-Morsi sentiment on the part of the police. “Of course our position has changed. More than a month ago, during the Police Officers Club general meeting, we made it clear the police could no longer be used as the regime's security stick,” Police Officers Club member Rami Khamis told the Weekly. Club spokesman Hisham Saleh told ONTV channel that police officers are increasingly frustrated with the way the Islamist regime has ignored recent police casualties, estimated at more than 200. Anti-Morsi and anti-Muslim Brotherhood sentiment on the part of the security forces has bubbled to the surface at funerals of officers and soldiers which quickly turned into anti-government demonstrations. On Monday, during the funeral of Brigadier-General Mohamed Hani — an inspector for the Interior Ministry in North Sinai shot by three unidentified gunmen carrying automatic rifles — mourners demanded the resignation of President Mohamed Morsi. On 10 June, during the funeral of Captain Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Abu Shakra — another police officer killed in North Sinai by unidentified gunmen — dozens of officers chanted anti-Morsi slogans. Videos appeared on the Internet of high ranking police officials attending Abdel-Aziz's funeral denouncing both Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. “I have sensed a change in the mentality of the police,” says Mohamed Ashraf, a protester who took part in the 2011 Revolution and participated in 30 June demonstrations in front of Al-Ittihadiya Palace. “In 2011 they were a tool to protect the regime. On 30 June they were more focussed on protecting peaceful protesters.” “I did not witness any violation from the police forces against protesters on Sunday,” Ashraf added. Days ahead of planned anti-Morsi demonstrations, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim announced that the police were legally committed to securing protests and ensuring the safety of all citizens regardless of their political allegiance. “Police neutrality towards protesters was inevitable,” argues Ashraf. “They realised that if they stood in opposition to the will of the people they would end up in the position they found themselves in in January 2011. And to that realisation we must add growing police anger at the presidency following the assassination of officers in Sinai.” “The police had no doubt that the presidency would willingly sacrifice them again.” Ingi Abdel-Ghani, a first time protester, felt encouraged by police support as she took to the streets. “I didn't take part in the 2011 Revolution. I only decided to take part in the 30 June protests after the official announcement by the Interior Ministry that they would be neutral and that their role was to protect the streets and peaceful protesters,” Abdel-Ghani told the Weekly as she marched towards Al-Ittihadiya Palace. Protester Mohamed Kandil believes there is more than a little self-interest in the change in police attitudes. “When police officers' interest was with Mubarak during 2011 uprising they attacked the people. They didn't think the protesters would be able to topple the president. Now they are supporting the people against the president whose power, they have calculated, is on the wane. “Until police officers who killed protesters during the 2011 uprising are brought to justice I cannot accept them, or their superiors, joining our demonstrations,” Kandil said. On Sunday former interior ministers Mansour Essawi and Ahmed Gamaleddin led marches of police officers from Zamalek towards Tahrir Square. They were demanding Morsi's ouster and early presidential elections. Though some news websites published that the police officers who took part in the demonstration on Sunday will be investigated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, an official source in the Interior Ministry denied the claim. “The Interior Ministry denies such allegations altogether. The officers will not be investigated,” the source told the Weekly. “The ministry will not take any legal action towards the officer, and hence they won't be held disciplinary or criminally accountable,” the source added.
