CAIRO, Apr 27 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt’s interior ministry will move to a new headquarters on the outskirts of the capital, Cairo, leaving its old location that was the scene of the deadly Mohamed Mahmoud clashes between protesters and security forces in Nov. 2011.

State television showed on Wednesday a live broadcast of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi witnessing the opening of the new premises in the Fifth Settlement district of New Cairo.

The area where the old building is located was the scene of fatal clashes that erupted between protesters and security forces in the aftermath of the 2011 Uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak after 30 years of his rule.

The clashes became known as the Mohamed Mahmoud events, named after the street where security forces clashed with protesters opposing the transitional rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in violence that left 51 people dead, according to Amnesty International. 

Mohamed Mahmoud Street is located in downtown Cairo near the famous Tahrir Square, the scene of the 18-day protest camp that started on January 25, 2011 and ended with Mubarak announcing that he would step down.

The street and the square became iconic of the uprising, with graffiti on the street’s walls featuring faces of those killed in the protests. Much of the grafitti was later removed by the authorities, though, including when one of the walls carrying it was demolished in September 2015.

Police brutality was one of the triggers of the uprising, sparked by protests on national Police Day aimed to draw attention to the police's use of excessive, at times fatal, violence.

More than five years after the uprising, the interior ministry is the subject of heavy criticism from local and international human rights defenders over purported violations.

Most recently, the killing of a tea vendor by a low-ranking policeman amid a quarrel over the price of tea triggered a riot in the Cairo suburb where he died. The interior ministry admitted the incident took place in an official statement.

The incident prompted Sisi to hold a meeting with the interior minister and ministry officials, instructing that it is important to deter “irresponsible” behaviour.

Jokes on social media

As state TV aired the opening of the new Ministry of Interior headquarters on Wednesday, Egyptian social media users poked fun at the ministry, citing alleged human rights violations.

“The new headquarters has a human rights sector,” one Twitter user, who identified himself as “Suezian and proud”, wrote. Suez is a province in northeastern Egypt.

“I will spend 200 million [Egyptian pounds, equivalent to around $22.5 million] to build prisons for you and I will leave you hungry. I do not want anyone to talk about this issue again, Egyptians,” another user of the social networking website tweeted, mocking a previous remark by the president in which he prevented the audience from discussing his decision to hand over control over two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

On their part, supporters of the Egyptian government posted tweets congratulating the ministry on the new building. “Only criminals … hate the police and the army,” one Twitter user said in response to critical tweets.

The new building has offices for the minister and his technical office, in addition to offices for the human rights sector and the media and public relations departments. It also has areas to receive citizens who want to file complaints or make inquiries, and a hall for reporters who cover the ministry’s news, state-run news agency MENA reported.