Egyptian minister 'urged use of automatic weapons against protesters'

[Jefferson23]

Al-Jazeera recording is said to reveal Mohamed Ibrahim discussing use of machine guns to deal with planned mass demonstrations


A demonstrator holds a poster of Mohamed Ibrahim with the word ‘Killer’ on it during a silent protest over a bridge in Cairo earlier this month. Photograph: Asmaa Waguih/Reuters

An audio recording broadcast by al-Jazeera is said to reveal Egypt’s interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, discussing the use of automatic weapons against protesters.

“Use all that is permitted under the law. I think you all understand and you all studied the law. Whatever is permitted by the law, use it without hesitation, any slight hesitation,” says the voice in the tape, “from water to the machine gun.”

According to al-Jazeera, the recording comes from a discussion of the ministry’s preparations for a day of mass demonstrations announced by Islamists in November 2014.

“I must handle them, disperse and arrest them, as it may be necessary to make them run away,” Ibrahim reportedly says in the tape. “Do not wait for 100 to swell into 1,000 or 2,000 or 3,000, then we are all helpless before them.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/24/egyptian-minister-urged-use-of-automatic-weapons-against-protesters