Residents storm New Valley Governorate headquarters to protest torture

The residents also raised economic and social demands during their protest.

Other protesters surrounded the Kharga police station, where the citizen was reportedly tortured, throwing stones at the building and cutting off its electricity.

The Interior Ministry has transferred the accused officer, Amr Basel, from Kharga in an attempt to calm the situation.

Protesters blocked the streets around the police station, preventing cars from passing until dawn Friday morning. They chanted slogans condemning police practices.

The protesters ended their demonstration once they learned that the officer would be transferred out of the governorate.

Demonstrators had issued a statement calling for a protest outside the New Valley Governorate headquarters to denounce the government decision to distribute gas cylinders using a coupon system and demand a resolution to the problem of sanitation fluids mixing with drinking water, as well as to agitate against the reported torture.

The protesters' march began at 8 pm Thursday evening in Basateen Square and headed toward the governorate's headquarters to confront Major General Tarek al-Mahdy, the governor of New Valley Governorate.

At the same time, another group of demonstrators surrounded the Kharga police station and chanted against the police. April 6 Youth Movement members raised posters with the image Khaled Saeed.

General Othman Nagy, head of the New Valley Security Directorate, told Al-Masry Al-Youm he understands the protesters' demands and emphasized that policemen maintained utmost restraint during the protest.

Police stations around the governorate have been secured in anticipation of additional attacks, he continued.

Additional Central Security Forces had been deployed to the area around the police station ahead of the protest in anticipation of any attempt to storm the building.

Translated from the Arabic Edition