The Interior Ministry not only remains unrepentant over the harsh tactics adopted to disperse demonstrators last Thursday but threatens more of the same, reports Gamal Essam El-Din The heavy-handed tactics adopted by security forces as they attempted to disperse protesters demonstrating in support of Hisham Bastawissi and Mahmoud Mekki, two pro-reform judges who last Thursday faced a disciplinary hearing, attracted widespread condemnation from civil society organisations and opposition MPs. Following the publication in newspapers of photographs of Central Security forces and plainclothes officers beating journalists and confiscating cameras, Press Syndicate Chairman Galal Aref said on Saturday that "the syndicate was determined to pursue all legal channels in upholding the rights of its members." Abir El-Askari, who works for the weekly independent Al-Dustour, was among six journalists briefly detained by security forces. She told New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) that she was "kidnapped by plainclothes police officers" who put her in a police van and drove her to Al-Sayeda Zeinab police station "where they tore my clothes and continued to slap and punch me". Opposition papers have reported that the Press Syndicate has lodged a complaint with the prosecutor-general against Interior Minister Habib El-Adli, and on Tuesday a meeting was convened to protest the attacks against, and detention of, journalists. University professors and lawyers both expressed their solidarity with the pro-reform judges, criticising Thursday's police tactics. HRW has called on President Hosni Mubarak to condemn Thursday's police violence and ensure that those responsible are prosecuted. Meanwhile, on Sunday more than 90 MPs belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, Wafd and Karama (dignity) parties walked out of a parliamentary session after speaker Fathi Sorour refused to allow an open debate on police violence against the demonstrators. Brotherhood and independent MPs held up posters showing photographs of the brutal tactics adopted by the police and continued their protest even after Sorour announced the issue would be discussed in the assembly's Defence and National Security Committee that afternoon. The MPs argued the committee's discussions would be meaningless as long as Interior Minister El-Adli refused to attend, prompting Sorour to ask Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab to urge El-Adli to be present. The minister, however, opted to send his deputy, Major-General Ahmed Diaaeddin. "Minister El-Adli's refusal to come to parliament demonstrates contempt for the legislative authority," said Brotherhood MP Hussein Ibrahim, who warned any repeat of last Thursday's events "would be a disaster for the country." Wafdist MP and journalist Mohamed Sherdy compared Thursday's attacks to the 1956 Tripartite Aggression. "The government, security forces and the NDP teamed up to attack reformist judges and journalists in the same way Israelis, British and French attacked Port Said in 1956," he said, noting that the confrontation is symptomatic of the enormous gap that exists between the regime and the Egyptian people. Sherdy's words elicited a furious response from NDP MPs who began to heap praise on Interior Ministry officials and denounce Kifaya members as foreign agents. NDP spokesman Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin said the NDP had no role in the current confrontation between the Judges' Club and the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and urged members of the former to distance themselves from political affairs. "It is a shame that some judges have become fond of discussing political issues on Arab satellite TV channels like Al-Jazeera," he said. Saad El-Gammal, another NDP MP, said that "the security forces cannot stand by as groups like Kifaya attempt to turn Egypt into another Iraq." Emboldened by NDP MPs' support, Diaaeddin insisted Article 147 of the Penal Code authorises security forces to act swiftly against any groups seeking to resist the authorities and spread chaos. He also argued that last Thursday's security measures were aimed at protecting judges rather than attacking them. "The police forces were working under instructions from Fathi Khalifa, the chairman of the Court of Cassation, who had asked that protesters be prevented from entering the building of the High Court," said Diaaeddin, who vowed that the police would repeat last Thursday's tactics if necessary. "The last thing on the mind of these protesters is to show solidarity with the judges. Their real aim is to destabilise the country and leave it prey to foreign forces," said Diaaeddin. He accused dissent groups of launching a "retaliatory war" against the security which "stands firm against their conspiracies'. "Some opposition and independent newspapers have tried to tarnish the image of the Interior Ministry by publishing anti-police photos of last Thursday's incidents. I tell them that the Interior Ministry is in possession of other photos that demonstrate how protesters tried to attack security forces with their shoes and how they held up placards insulting President Mubarak," said Diaaeddin. NDP MPs rushed to back up Diaaeddin, accusing Sherdy of conspiring to spread chaos. Sherdy responded by saying NDP MPs were "hypocrites whose only concern is to secure their personal interests". While Shehab intervened to prevent the meeting descending further into a slanging match he criticised Sherdy for "alleging a wide gap exists between the regime and the Egyptian people". He also criticised the opposition walking out of the meeting: "They aim to launch a verbal war against the interior minister rather than conduct an objective discussion of last Thursday's incidents."
