WATANI International
25 January 2009
Since the beginning of time good and evil have lived side by side. Adam needed to find a means of protecting himself against evil doers, and it was from this distant beginning that the idea of the policeman eventually came into existence.
Over the ages, the Egyptian nation has needed its share of a security presence; with one historic disaster following another, security forces have played an effective role in upholding the peace and security of the nation. During the Ptolemaic era most of the guards were Greeks, but with the passage of time only the positions of senior officers were retained exclusively by Greeks and the more inferior jobs of regular guards were taken up by Egyptians. This status quo continued till the Arab invasion of Egypt, when Omar Ibn al-Khattab initiated the “Aassass” system in which a group of guards were given the task of performing a night security check.
Surveillance operations
The Ummayad era saw the beginning of the concept of registering law breakers and suspects to keep them under surveillance, which is similar to the current system and one of the uses of ID cards. The guard force was also given the task of providing security for the Caliph, as well as dispersing rioters and putting out fires. This system continued through the Abbasid age. Later, under the rule of Ibn Touloun, a secret force was established and for the first time passports were used. Political security forces were first engaged during the Fatimid era, with their task being to follow current events and keep a reign on political issues.
Later, with the rule of Mohamed Ali and the Egyptian renaissance age, major changes took place. Mohamed Ali divided the force into morning and night shifts; and he further divided them into a vice squad; a criminal squad; customs and excise; and a European department, which was responsible for all foreigners residing in Egypt.
Foreign officers
The force at that time included several nationalities, particularly Italian, Swiss and British officers who arrived with the British invasion. The number of foreigners in the force increased until matters reached a head, and the Egyptian man force resented having ‘illiterate’—presumably because they could not read or write Arabic—foreigners governing their country through force and began to set up covert ‘martyrdom’ operations. At that point the Egyptian government realised that it could not rid itself of the invaders unless it strengthened the police force, and so it established the so-called Gendarme force and in 1896 it set up the first police academy. This awakening continued until 1951, when the Egyptian government annulled the 1936 agreement with Great Britain and thus forced the English soldiers to start fighting and shooting civilians which caused the Egyptians to fight back. This job fell to the Egyptian police force, which stood up to the British despite the mediocrity of their weapons when compared with the British bombs, planes and artillery.
Major stand up
The incident that merited becoming the anniversary of the police force in Egypt took place when British troops in Egypt demanded that the police force that was opposing them give in and surrender their weapons. However, the police refused and instead vowed to continue fighting against all odds. This decision was supported by the then minister of interior Ahmed Lutfi al-Sayed, who announced his full support for their bravery and requested them not to give in. The police carried on fighting the British until they were cornered and had to resort to a bloody skirmish that ended with them invading the police grounds and being captured by the British. Egyptian troops in the Ismailiya government building continued fighting until they ran out of ammunition and had to surrender because of heavy fire. Altogether 50 policemen died and 80 were injured. To commemorate this brave struggle on the part of the Egyptian police, 25 January was chosen to be celebrated annually as National Police Day.