By AFP
CAIRO: Forty-seven police officers suspected of having destroyed documents in offices of Egypt’s state security services have been remanded in custody, a senior judiciary official said on Monday.
The officers are suspected of burning documents and “sabotaging” computers in state security premises, said Adel Al-Said, the deputy prosecutor general.
On Saturday state security buildings around the country were stormed by protesters trying to retrieve files kept on the population by the powerful apparatus that monitors political dissent and reports to the interior ministry.
Around 2,500 protesters stormed the state security building in Cairo’s Nasr City “grabbing official documents before officials could burn or shred them,” a security official told AFP.
Dissolution of the Egypt’s sprawling state security apparatus, the backbone of Hosni Mubarak’s repressive regime that was regularly accused of torture, is a key demand of protesters who forced the former president’s ouster.
On Saturday, hundreds more protesters tried to barge their way into another state security building in the Cairo suburb of Sheikh Zayed, where guards inside fired into the air to try to disperse the crowd.
Protesters surged into the state security headquarters in the northwestern city of Marsa Matrouh, gathering up thousands of documents before setting the building on fire.
Demonstrators also stormed state security offices in the Nile Delta city of Zagazig and in Fayoum south of Cairo, the security official said.
Demonstrators said that they had acted after finding state security officers destroying documents.
On Sunday, armed civilians attacked hundreds of protesters gathered in front of state security headquarters in Cairo. The army fired warning shots to try to disperse the crowd.
“All offices of the state security services are now under military control,” Said said on Monday.
