Egyptian protesters storm secret police headquarters

[Hannah Bell]

Thousands of demonstrators, many of them former political prisoners and victims of torture, stormed buildings belonging to the State Security Investigations agency in Cairo, Alexandria and other Egyptian cities, after reports that the secret police were burning documents to cover their tracks.

The attacks began in Alexandria, the country’s second-largest city, on Friday night, March 4, and continued over the weekend in Cairo, the capital, and many regional cities. Demonstrators took documents from at least 11 state security offices around the country. They want the documents preserved to provide evidence for the prosecution of officials of the dictatorship of former president Hosni Mubarak.

Yesterday 47 state security officers were arrested on suspicion of burning documents, according to the Prosecutor General’s office. They said they would hold the officials for 15 days, pending investigations.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/egyp-m08.shtml