CAIRO

Disgruntled Egyptians beat up a policeman, blocked roads, and surrounded the local security headquarters late Thursday night after the officer killed a driver in a dispute.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry media office said in a statement that the killing followed an argument over the sergeant’s fare for his ride in Cairo’s populous el-Darb el- Ahmar district. In the course of the dispute, the officer shot and killed the driver.

A second Interior Ministry statement called the shooting a “mistake.”

Videos posted by the el- Masry el-Youm news website showed tearful residents displaying bloodstained sections of cardboard and saying the officer had verbally insulted the driver and when the latter objected, the policeman shot the driver in the head.

Egypt state-run news agency said the policeman was arrested.

The incident highlighted ongoing tensions in Egypt over the behavior of the security forces. Last week, Egyptian doctors staged a large protest after police officers assaulted two emergency room doctors in a Cairo hospital.

Human rights groups say that a culture of impunity among the Egyptian security forces has led to widespread police brutality. Trials are rare and when they do occur, sentences are usually appealed and subsequently reduced.

Unrestrained police abuses were also one of the main contributing factors in the 2011 popular uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power.

Thursday’s incident comes after the body of an Italian student was found by a roadside in Cairo earlier this month, marked with cigarette burns and other signs of torture. Italy has demanded those responsible be brought to justice. Egypt has dismissed suggestions its security services could have been involved.

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