CAIRO:The 2013 Protest Law will not be applied on a number of protesting low-ranking police officers in Sharqiah, said Minister of Interior Aide Abu Bakr Abdel-Karim Monday.
“Their (policemen) sit-in was not a demonstration but protest gathering; the protest law will not apply on the police strikers,” Abdel-Karim told al-Beit Betak talk show on TEN channel Monday.
The law, which entered into force in November 2013, criminalizes any demonstrations that take place without approval from security forces; a number of students have been imprisoned under the law.
For a week, hundreds of Sharqiah police personnel, joined by others from governorates, had entered a half-strike demanding improved working conditions. They stormed the Sharqiah police station after clashes with central security forces trying to disperse their protest. However, they announced Monday the end of their strike with promises to study their demands.
Their demands include better pay, enforcing the promotion system and other financial rights including payment of incentives due for June and July and an increase in their end-of-service incentive payment.
However, human rights lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer Baqer told The Cairo Post that the striking forces reportedly blocked roads, “and it is considered disrupting vital utility, which means they should fall under the provisions of the assembly law and not the 2013 Protest Law.”
Additional Reporting Nourhan Magdi