President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended on Thursday the graduation ceremony of a new class of police cadets at the premises of the Police Academy in New Cairo.

The ceremony for the 1,501 police officers was attended by Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfik, former interim-president Adly Mansour, Police Academy Chief Major General Ahmed Ibrahim, and senior police officials.

The graduation ceremony included a bicycle parade and a show on general fighting skills by the new graduates.

Cadets also gave a presentation on special skills for combating terrorism, breaking into terrorist and criminal hideouts, and detecting explosive devices.

The graduates took the oath before the president to uphold the law and constitution, and to protect the homeland and the Egyptian people.

During the ceremony, El-Sisi bestowed the second class medal of excellence on the top graduates and granted Arab and African students the same medal.

President El-Sisi congratulated the new officers and greeted their families, saying "they prepared their sons and devoted them to the country to defend us."

He also greeted the police martyrs' sons, who graduated with the new class. "The [Martyrs' absence] hurts all of us, but our solace is that they scarified their lives for the sake of 100 million Egyptians… this is a huge price to pay," he added.

The daughter of Colonel Mohamed Abdel-Salam, one of the fallen officers, expressed in a short speech at the event her pride in her father's sacrifice for the homeland, adding that her brother joined the police academy to carry on their father's mission.

The interior minister saluted the president for his attendance and expressed his appreciation for the fresh graduates. He also honoured the souls of police and armed forces martyrs on the occasion of the October 1973 victory.

The country will show "no tolerance towards anyone who tries to undermine the security and safety of the homeland," Minister Tawfik stressed.

Police Academy Chief Ibrahim said the academy has prepared a cultural programme for its cadets to be aware of the challenges besetting the country, hailing efforts exerted by the interior ministry to upgrade the academy's performance on different fronts.