This week, two police officers were killed and up to 13 injured while defusing two of four bombs near Egypt’s Presidential Palace. While President Sisi’s speech following the incident focused upon “justly seeking retribution from the killers,” the President, the government and the media all but ignored the deep-rooted negligence that left the families of two officers without their fathers. The first anniversary of June 30 commenced with an explosion that left three gardeners and cleaning workers injured near one of Egypt’s most heavily guarded locations, the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis. Upon arriving at the scene, police officers located a second home-made explosive. In any other country in the world, police would then likely deploy anti-explosive equipment, such as the anti-bomb robot and a bomb disposal suit. Instead, as photographs from the past year have shown, a bomb expert was sent to defuse the bomb as on-lookers stood by, closely watching the expert. The outcome was deadly. As video footage showed, the explosive detonated, leaving the bomb expert mortally wounded and others surrounding the bomb, including a cameraman and multiple police officers, injured. However, it did not end there….
