CAIRO: In anticipation of possible protests, security forces are on high alert ahead of the second anniversary of the dispersal of pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins of Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda squares.
At the Rabaa al-Adaweya Square, barbed wires have cordoned the side roads, while police personnel in plainclothes deployed in the area Thursday morning.
“We will not allow any law violations or creating chaos in the country; we will harshly deal with the outlaws,” the Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
Fifty security troops deployed nationwide to secure the public vital utilities, police stations and prisons, the statement added.
“Special operation officers, explosives experts, and rabid deployment forces will participate in security process; while a great number of police dogs will be brought and explosives detectors will be used,” the statement read.
Four days ago, Muslim Brotherhood leader and Islamist scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi called for staging protests in the second anniversary of Rabaa dispersal, Youm7 reported. His call came following the death of jailed Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya leader Essam Derbala Sunday.
On August 14, 2013, security forces had forcedly dispersed the sit-ins that called for former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s reinstatement after being ousted by the military on July 3, 2013.
According to state-owned human rights council, the number of people killed in the sit-ins dispersal exceeded 600 persons; while Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported that more than 1,000 people were killed.
On July 17, Egypt’s cabinet approved to rename Rabaa Square after Attorney General Hisham Barakat whom was assassinated in a car bomb in June.