CAIRO (Reuters) –
(c) SM Schwartz,2011
“The first priority, no question about it, is security. An equally important priority is to provide the elements needed for the daily life of citizens,” Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq told Egyptian state television. “The government and the citizen must unite in the coming period.”
Former president Hosni Mubarak turned power over to a military council when he resigned Friday. The council’s head, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, met a number of ministers Saturday, including Shafiq and Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy.
State media said Tantawi and Wagdy discussed the quick return to duty of the police, who left the streets in the early days of the popular uprising against Mubarak.
Wagdy said Saturday that 13,000 prisoners who walked out of prison in the uprising’s early days were still on the run.