By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: A police officer shot a microbus driver Thursday in Maadi, angering passersby and drivers who in turn burnt the officer’s car and beat him severely.
Security personnel fled Maadi, according to eyewitnesses, as hundreds protested at Gaza’er Square, the site of the incident, chanting anti-police slogans in the presence of military armored vehicles.
Eyewitnesses told Daily News Egypt that policeman Salah Ashraf Al-Segeeny, son of the Al-Basateen Investigation Bureau head, had a dispute with a microbus driver named Atef.
As people tried to break up the fight, other drivers identified the officer who felt threatened and fired gunshots, supposedly in the air, hitting the driver in the shoulder.
When Al-Segeeny tried to put the driver in the pick-up van, people attacked him with knives and took the driver to an unidentified hospital.
Military Police arrived and took Al-Segeeny to Al-Nakhil Hospital.
“The officer arrived in a horrendous state. But he wasn’t dead and was later taken by Military Police,” an official at the hospital told Daily News Egypt.
Daily News Egypt wasn’t able to confirm the death of the driver or Al-Segeeny.
Hundreds of protestors in Gaza’er Square set the pick-up van and a police car on fire and barricaded surrounding streets.
The Ministry of Interior said in a statement that Al-Segeeny was on a sick leave and was suspended following the incident. The Prosecutor General will begin Investigations with him soon.
Activists called for a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Interior Friday demanding the resignation of its newly appointed minister Mahmoud Wagdy.
Eyewitnesses said that Al-Segeeny is notorious for his maltreatment of drivers.
One eyewitness said that protestors wanted to attack Al-Segeeny’s mother, who lives in a nearby building and who rushed to the burnt car, but were prevented by another group.
Police and traffic officers abandoned their posts in Maadi’s entrances and were replaced by Military Police.
Passersby take photo of the policeman’s burnt pick-up van. (Photo by Ibrahim Sabri)
