MANSURA - Hundreds of thousands in the Delta city of Mansura will stage a peaceful protest after a dispute over the appointment of an ex-police general as the governor of Dakahlyia Governorate. The January 25 revolution Command Council said that the residents of Mansura would participate in the protest, which will be held outside the Governorate Office Building, to express their 'utter refusal' of naming Maj. General Mohssen Hafzi as their governor. "Maj. General Hafzi has been one of the cronies of ex-interior minister Habib el-Adli, and member of the notorious State Security Agency (SSA), which was dissolved after the Revolution," the Council members said in a statement. The residents of Dakahliya Governorate demand Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to appoint a civilian governor not a police or an army one, the statement said, claiming that they regarded Maj Gen. Hafzi's naming to this top post as a set back to the Revolution and its targets. "The revolutionaries have demanded that all governors should be civilians and not military or police generals as was the rule before January 25," the statement said, adding that the residents did not want Hafzi as governor for his alleged role in ordering the use of violence against the protesters during the 18-day popular uprising against the Mubarak regime. "Hafzi was one of el-Adli's cronies and one of the SSA active members," it added. However, Maj. Gen. Hafzi brushed these claims aside, confirming that he was a stalwart opponent of el-Adli's policies and had paid a dear price for opposing the ex-minister's policies in running the day-to-day police work. "All the honest and honourable police officers, who worked under el-Adli's direct command, know how I rejected the minister's policies in public and refused to comply with his orders to use violence or excessive force against the protesters," he said in a statement. The protests between January 25 and February 11 have turned violent as the police -under el-Adli's orders- opened fire, killing more than 800 protesters and injuring 6,000 others.
