Police protests CIVILIAN employees and low-ranking policemen at the Ministry of Interior protested on 30 April in front of the Interior Ministry headquarters in Cairo, as part of their national strike which started on 28 April. The strike is being held in 17 governorates, where policemen have refrained from work in police stations and patrolling the streets. Some have closed off the gates of the security directorates in Beheira and Daqahlia governorates. The main demand by the policemen is to enforce their promotion system by which they can become high-ranking officers after 20 years in service, which will be reflected in higher wages, said officer Taher Youssef. Youssef has been working in the ministry for 17 years. At the Monday protest, he told a local daily that he earns LE1,200 a month. Youssef and fellow demonstrators complained to the ministry that they receive "shoddy benefits compared to high-ranking officers. We can't use police hospitals unless we have a letter from the police officer supervising us. Why can high-ranking police officers and their families get the best treatment in their hospitals while we can't?" asks Youssef. There are more than 40,000 civilians employed at the ministry, which provides services such as issuing passports, birth, marriage and divorce certificates and providing visas and residence permits to non-Egyptians. The employees' main demand is to be allowed to hold higher positions in their departments, since currently the top jobs are reserved for high-ranking officers. "Promotions are only reflected in wages and not in actual higher administrative posts. I stayed all my life doing the same job with the same responsibilities, which is very depressing," said Nehad Beheiri, who works in the financial department at the Damietta Security Directorate reviewing monthly salaries. The Police Authority Law does not allow civilian employees to rise to posts of managers, directors or deputy ministers, Beheiri said. Fourteen candidates for papal seat MAGED Riyad, legal consultant to the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States, announced in a press conference in Cairo on 30 April that 14 bishops and priests are candidates for the papal seat. Elections for the new pope, following the death of Pope Shenouda III in March, are expected to take place in September. Riyad stated that Copts who live abroad will have a strong influence in choosing the new pope, especially churches in the US, Canada and Europe. Although acting Pope Bakhomious received many endorsements, Riyad iterated that "Bishop Bakhomious has refused to run in the elections." Candidates for the papal chair include Youth Bishop Moussa; Bishop Bishoi, secretary of Holy Synod; Bishop Youanas, secretary of Pope Shenouda; General Bishop Raphael; Bishop Makarios of Minya governerate; Bishop to Germany Domyan; and Priest Shenouda. Papal nominations opened on 27 April and will close on 17 May. The date for the elections, confined only to the church, will be announced Tuesday. Earlier on Saturday, the Assiut governorate Bishop Abram said that up until then seven had been nominated to succeed Pope Shenouda. On the same day Pope Shenouda passed away, 17 March, the General Assembly, which comprises the Holy Synod and Laity Council, announced that they will narrow down the list to three candidates from a pool of several nominees. One will succeed the pope who died at 88. A child will be blindfolded and will choose from among the three (now possibly four) cards with the names of the candidates.
