CAIRO: In an emergency meeting with youth leaders, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf promised a complete Cabinet reshuffle by July 17 and a change of governors before July 25, according to Al-Ahram daily.
Egypt’s interim PM also said he would resign if he is unable to meet these commitments.
The meeting took place amid escalations in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez in which angry protesters threatened civil disobedience and a complete disruption of public life if their demands are not met.
A statement of demands announced Sunday in Tahrir Square included the cleansing of the interior ministry from anyone associated with the cases of the killing of protesters during the Jan. 25 uprising, the transparency of court proceedings, especially the trials of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons Gamal and Alaa and the corruption icons of the previous regime, taking immediate measures to guarantee the independence of the judiciary as well as cleansing all media institutions from the remnants of the old regime.
Youth representatives from the National Association for Change, as well as several other youth coalitions attended the meeting, while the April 6 Youth Movement turned down the invitation.
Sharaf’s promises to order the discharge of all police officers implicated in the killing of protesters sparked a strong reaction from Interior Minister Mansour El-Essawy, who reportedly threatened to resign if the PM insisted.
However, El-Essawy said that sweeping changes within the interior ministry will be announced next Wednesday in a move which he said “will satisfy all sectors of Egyptian society.”
Yet calls for a national strike and a million man protest Tuesday continued as the Ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) failed to respond, even ignoring protesters’ chants demanding the removal of the SCAF and its head Filed Marshal Hussein Tantawy.
Those detained following the forceful dispersal of a protest that blocked the Suez-Ain Sokhna desert road Sunday by military police were reported released within hours.
