A recently-founded political coalition has condemned the strikes initiated by a number of police stations in Egypt, saying that "[police] forces should not withdraw from their duty or refrain from the great service [of protecting the people]."
The National Conscience Front also said in a statement Tuesday that "everyone should cooperate to tackle the flaws in [interior ministry] without undermining the unity of the police force and its subordination to the state."
The Egyptian prosecutor-general announced on Sunday that citizens have the right to arrest "vandals" who threaten public order and property and refer them to official personnel. He said this right is granted by Article 37 of Egypt's criminal procedure law, issued in 1950.
The statement provoked considerable controversy.
The front, largely made up of Islamist figures, including members of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) from which Preisdent Mohamed Morsi hails, and the Wasat Party, expressed its "respect" for the recent Administrative Court's decision to order that the parliamentary elections be put on hold and the electoral law be referred to the High Constitutional Court (HCC).
However, it called upon all those who have an interest to use the "legal procedure of filing an appeal" against the court's order.
In addition, the front said that the judiciary needs more "reformative measures" that should be initiated from within the judicial system itself.
The front also praised the court's verdict in the case of the Port Said football massacre in which 21 people were sentenced to death and a number of defendants, including two of the nine police officials on trial, received lengthy sentences.
In their statement, the front criticised the "lack of unity" among youth groups. It also said that the state's duty at the moment is to empower young people in "local governance and the state's security, judicial and administrative institutions."
It also announced that it is preparing for its first conference for empowering youth in Egypt.
The front was officially launched on 9 February and declared its goals were to put an end to the violence that was taking place in the aftermath of the second anniversary of 25 January revolution. It also stated that it aimed to help Egypt develop and achieve the goals of the revolution.
