CAIRO: The People's Assembly's general session Monday saw heated debate over a proposition by several MPs to allow security forces to use “lawful means” to disperse protesters around the Ministry of Interior as well as police stations and government buildings. The proposition, which was not put up for a vote, would have set guidelines for peaceful protesting. MP Mohamed Abu Hamed, head of the Free Egyptians Party bloc in the PA, was delegated by PA speaker Saad El-Katany to head to the interior ministry with other MPs to verify his claims that birdshot was used by security forces to disperse protesters. Abu Hamed returned holding up empty cartridges proving that birdshot was used, which caused an uproar in the assembly, as El-Katatny announced that he received information from the interior minister that it was not used. Hussein Ibrahim, a Freedom and Justice Party MP, slammed the proposition even though it had not yet been read or put to the vote by the PA speaker, saying that “it should not be said that parliament approved orders to shoot [at protesters].” By law, security personnel have the right to shoot in order to protect vital state institutions under attack. Clashes that entered their fifth day yesterday were ongoing during the parliamentary session. The night before, police fired teargas and birdshot at protesters in Bab Al-Louq Street. The Ministry of Interior had built cement walls to block all roads leading to it on Sunday but continued firing teargas at protesters intermittently until Monday afternoon. Thirteen have been confirmed dead in clashes with police, eight in Cairo and five in Suez. Monday's session also saw fierce debate on whether those engaged in clashes around the Ministry of Interior are “revolutionaries” or “thugs,” where MP Moustafa Bakry suggested that protesters have been paid to attack the ministry as part of a foreign conspiracy to bring down the state. El-Katatny urged the revolutionaries to retreat to Tahrir Square so they can set them apart from the thugs. The PA's general committee, which includes the parliament speaker, the two deputies and heads of party blocs, as well as five members — Mostafa Bakry for the independents, Waheed Abdel Meguid, Al-Wafd's Margaret Azer, FJP's Mohamed El-Beltagi and Al-Nour's Younis Abdel Hamid — met Sunday evening to discuss the Port Said massacre which left 74 people dead on Wednesday. According to Azer, the committee decided to form a subcommittee which will summon Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim for interrogation in the allegations made by the PA, holding him accountable for the country's worst ever football violence. In his opening speech on Monday, El-Katatny confirmed that the fact finding committee tasked with investigating the Port Said massacre will present a preliminary report this week. The subcommittee includes Councilor Mahmoud El-Khodeiry, head of the legislative affairs committee; MP Essam Sultan, leading member of Al-Wasat Party; Mahmoud El-Saqqa, deputy of the legislative affairs committee; and FJP MP Talaat Marzouk. In addition, on Sunday evening MPs Amr Hamzawy, Mostafa El-Naggar, Hatem Azzam, Osama Yassin and Mohamed El-Sawy joined a number of “Egyptian mothers” in a meeting with the Minister of Interior to discuss suitable measures to end the ongoing violence around the interior ministry. “The Ministry of Interior does not fulfill its promises,” said El-Sayed Mostafa, one of the MPs who attended the meeting, referring to the minister's promise to end the bloodshed and stop the crackdown on demonstrators. Rights activist Ghada Shahbandar, who also attended the meeting, said via her Twitter account that she “regrets attending the meeting with the minister as he vowed not to use birdshot.” “He either can't control his officers or he is a liar,” she said. During the meeting, the minister suggested that protesters go back to Tahrir Square to which the mothers responded that the security forces need to go back inside the ministry, according to Shahbandar. The security and defense committee and other MPs also met with the minister Sunday evening. The minister then issued a decision to prepare Cairo's Tora prison hospital to receive ousted president Hosni Mubarak and move members of the former regime to five separate prisons, according to MP Mohamed El-Sawy. Following a separate meeting without the minister, the security and defense committee made a number of recommendations to propose to the PA. These include, the removal of the prosecutor general and assigning a judge to investigate the killings of demonstrators; bringing charges against the Minister of Interior, and summoning top officials such as the Egypt's intelligence chief, the head of military police, the director of national security service, and the head of the central security service, to attend before the committee, to account for recent events, according to a statement on the FJP's official website.
