Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt plans to procure 100,000 pistols for police.

Officials said the Interior Ministry has approved a plan to procure 9mm
pistols for Egyptian police. They said the ministry would procure at least
100,000 firearms in an effort to defuse a revolt within the police.

“We hope to acquire the first delivery within a few weeks,” an official
said.

The decision came amid a strike by thousands of police, who complained of being defenseless against pro-democracy protesters and their new militias.

The conscripts have demanded that they be allowed to carry the 9mm
pistols at all times. Representatives said the conscripts feared being
identified, tracked and killed by opposition militias.

Police conscripts maintained a strike for five days and called for the dismissal of the leadership of the Interior Ministry and security command. Several officers, including a captain, have already been killed in clashes with anti-government fighters.

The Interior Ministry has overseen hundreds of thousands of police
conscripts, who are not regarded as part of the career force. These recruits receive little training and battle demonstrators with little more than clubs.

The Interior Ministry has already procured and distributed anti-riot
equipment for police assigned to stop protests against the regime of
President Mohammed Morsi. The equipment was said to consist mostly of
non-lethal items, such as helmets and body armor.

  000 pistols in urgent move to get striking police back to work, 9mm pistols, anti-riot equipment, Egypt orders 100, Interior Ministry, Mohammed Morsi