Marwan Mostafa, assistant interior minister, described those who helped prisoners escape in an attempt to sabotage the 25 January revolution as “traitors.”
“We were negligent … but now we accept democracy, for which there is no alternative”, he added.
There is a need to retrain police officers, he said, adding that nobody can turn back time. In his meeting with a delegation from the Union of the Youth of the Revolution at the ministry’s headquarters two days ago, Mostafa said the priority is now the return of entire police force to the streets, for it is still operating at 60 percent capacity at the moment.
The next step will be to refer corrupt people for immediate trial, he said, adding that the ministry will announce the results of investigations into Tahrir incidents over the coming days. Mostafa added that the role of his ministry in the upcoming referendum and elections will only be to secure the voting process, without any further intervention.
The youth delegation, meanwhile, presented their views on how to restore police confidence. They said this should begin with the implementation of the police motto of “The police serve the people,” the good treatment of citizens at police stations, and the introduction of an independent mechanism to handle the complaints lodged by people at police stations.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
