Beni Suef's security chief, Major General Attiya Mazroa, said on Monday that security authorities in the province will adopt exceptional security measures to secure the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, who will cast his ballot there during the presidential election slated for Wednesday and Thursday.
“Badie is a patriotic figure who has for years practiced his voting rights freely,” Mazroa said in a press conference following a meeting with Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim.
“Out of our concern for his safety, secret security measures will be imposed along the route he will take from Cairo to his house in Beni Suef, and then to the polling station.”
He stressed that police forces during the polls will be impartial towards all voters, either liberal or religious, and will also be neutral to all candidates.
Mazroa added that military forces will help secure polling stations, supervising judges, and ballot boxes.
As for the security situation in Beni Suef in general, Mazroa explained that the interior minister had highlighted the need to secure prisons during the polls, and to put all security forces on alert around the clock.
He said that Beni Suef police have detained 37 ex-convicts and confiscated 14 firearms and 300 bullets in a major campaign carried out over the past two days.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
