CAIRO - Egyptian Ministry of Interior employees are currently roaming the Cairo streets on an important mission looking for burnt-out police cars. During the demonstrations, which began on January 25, calling for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30 years of rule, police fired rubber bullets, water cannon and teargas at hundreds of demonstrators. Around six police stations and several police cars were torched in Cairo; stations were also torched in Suez and other cities. "We must check out these cars. We might be able to fix some of them, while the others are destined for the knacker's yard," said Assem el-Leithy, one of the ministerial employees engaged in this task. "The burnt-out police cars will be towed away to the Ministry's warehouses," he told Al-Masry Al-Youm independent newspaper. It seems that the Interior Ministry is more worried about its damaged cars than the lives of Egyptians, who are terrified of the escaped convicts, who have been robbing honest citizens, even in broad daylight, ever since the police melted away on January 28th, when tens of thousands took to the streets demanding Mubarak's ouster.
