CAIRO, Egypt \u2014 It seems police here have finally had enough.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month \u2014 following more than a month of clashes between security forces and protesters, in which at least two policemen died \u2014 riot police and regular officers started a near-nationwide strike to protest intolerable working conditions and what they say is their role as political pawns in the government\u2019s fight with the opposition.<\/p>\n
Egyptians say they\u2019ve noticed little difference with the police, whose notorious brutality spawned the uprising here two years ago, now that they\u2019re off the streets. Their presence often provoked more violence anyway, they say.<\/p>\n
But the mutiny has also given rise to alarming calls by officials for \u201cpopular committees\u201d \u2014 or militias \u2014 and private security companies to both legally and informally assume police duties to fill the vacuum.<\/p>\n
Residents here are worried government-sanctioned vigilantism will pave the way for further chaos and a possible collapse of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf militias come out, this means that the state has collapsed,\u201d said 55-year-old Ahmed Mohammed Mustafa, the owner of a fruit and vegetable stand near some of the most intense clashes in Cairo in recent weeks. \u201cNobody can stop them from coming into our neighborhoods and doing whatever they want. How are we supposed to know who they are?\u201d<\/p>\n
The unprecedented police strike \u2014 which has subsided temporarily in the capital but continues in other provinces \u2014 poses a serious challenge for the already teetering government of President Mohamed Morsi.<\/p>\n
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood group he once led has sought to co-opt the largely anti-Islamist interior ministry during their time in power, deploying them to use the same methods as their dictatorial predecessor and abandoning calls for police reform.<\/p>\n