Ex-police set fire to Cairo ministry building
Egypt’s new cabinet met for the first time on Wednesday with security high on its agenda and under attack from the Muslim Brotherhood and others who want it purged of ministers appointed by ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
In preparation for polls that military rulers have promised to hand over power to civilian rule in six months, activists announced the forming of a new political party on Wednesday.
The Brotherhood and other political groups have called for another million-man-march on Friday to fill Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, which was the nerve-center for opposition to Mubarak’s 30-year iron rule, to call for a new cabinet.
Banned under Mubarak and playing an increasingly active role in Egyptian political life since the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak, the Brotherhood wants the lifting of emergency law, freeing of political prisoners and a purge of the cabinet.
Discuss food & subsidies
The cabinet will discuss security issues in the post-Mubarak era and the provision of basic foods and subsidies on Wednesday, political sources said. Despite political pressure, there are unlikely to be further changes in the cabinet, they added.
Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that is running the Arab world’s most populous nation, swore in 10 new ministers on Tuesday, some who had opposed Mubarak, but key portfolios were unchanged.
"The main ministries of defense, justice, interior and foreign remain unchanged, signaling Egypt’s politics remain in the hands of Mubarak and his cronies," senior Brotherhood member Essam el-Erian told Reuters, reacting to the new line-up.
In the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections, a committee is amending the constitution to dismantle the apparatus that propped up Mubarak’s rule and political parties are being registered ahead of the polls.
"Egypt the free"
A former diplomat, Abdallah Alashaal, was quoted by MENA news agency on Wednesday as saying he was setting up a new political party "Egypt the Free" to participate in the polls.
"The establishment of the party comes within the framework and desire to make a real representation of the youth of Jan. 25 revolution during the coming period," Alashaal said.
The Brotherhood and youth groups are anxious that the emergency law, imposed after the assassination of Anwar Sadat by Islamist soldiers from his army in 1981, be lifted but some Cairo residents were not so sure.
"For now, they shouldn’t cancel the emergency law because there are thousands and thousands of thugs out there but ultimately, yes, they have to remove it because police were mistreating lot of people through it," Somaya Mohamed, a retiree, told Reuters on Wednesday.
"I don’t see anything wrong with the politics of (prime minister) Ahmed Shafiq, he has a white track record," he said, adding: "I think the youth is simply against anything that the president said that’s all, they wanted to put an end to him and whatever he said."
Another priority facing the cabinet is getting the nation back to work and to stop the protests and strikes that have damaged an economy that had already been damaged by the turmoil of the revolution which erupted on Jan. 25.
The Egyptian stock market, which closed two days after the uprising started, has announced that it will stay shut until next week.
Ex-police protesting
Former Egyptian police officers protesting outside the interior ministry in Cairo on Wednesday set fire to an adjacent administration building, a security official told AFP.
The police officers — demanding reinstatement into the police force — hurled firebombs at the smaller building, which is also used by the ministry, in central Cairo. Several cars outside were also set alight.
Soldiers who remain deployed in the heart of the capital in the wake of the 18-day uprising against president Hosni Mubarak put the fire out, and there were no reported casualties, the official said.
Protests by disgruntled workers have become commonplace since Mubarak stood down on February 11, with the interim military-led administration warning if tough action if they get out of hand.