A police officer killed a student in a village in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, on Wednesday, reported independent news website Al-Youm Al-Sabee on Thursday. This is the fourth reported death of a citizen at the hands of the police since the overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak on 11 February. According to the website, as news of the death spread, hundreds of residents of Talat village in Abshoi township gathered outside the village police station, which was secured by the armed forces. The newspaper quoted the villagers as saying that the victim, 17-year-old Mohammed Abdel Hamid, a high school student, was riding a motorcycle with one of his friends at the time of the incident, having just come from a wedding ceremony. According to the villagers, the two boys were asked to stop by four plain-clothed police officers holding batons. The boys were afriad, and so refused to stop. The villagers went on to say that the victim was hit on the back of his head with the baton, causing him to lose his balance and fall from the motorcycle. Having stopped, he was beaten once again on the front of his head, causing him to die. The victim's father, 49-year-old Mahmoud Abdul-Hamid, a teacher, said that he was called by an ambulance driver on Wednesday, telling him that his son had died at the hands of secret police officers. The newspaper quoted the victim's mother as saying she wanted revenge on those who killed her son. Translated from the Arabic Edition
