Prosecutor General Talat Ibrahim Abdullah's advice was immediately dismissed by the Egyptian army which said it will not allow citizens to practise arrest powers.
The call was criticised by liberals as an attempt to hand over such powers to Islamists who will use it to form vigilante groups taking over police duties at a time of growing tension and lawlessness affecting individual freedoms.
On the other hand, Islamists welcomed the decision which is in line with a recent call by the Jamah Islamiyah to establish a parallel ministry of interior, as they see the state's ministry inefficient.
The statement issued yesterday said certain offences that require citizen arrests, and have been commonplace in Egypt in the two years since Hosni Mubarak's autocratic regime was toppled, have been on the rise in recent weeks.
Also Read
Among the offences are sabotaging state facilities, blocking roads, disrupting public transport, preventing state employees from reaching their workplace and terrorising citizens.
Meanwhile, the former jihadist group Gamaa Islamiya has begun enrolling followers in the southern province of Assiut, one of its main strongholds.
Before it renounced violence, Gamaa Islamiya played a key part in an anti-government insurgency in the 1990s. Now, it says the police strike and civil disobedience, like that seen in the coastal city of Port Said are part of a conspiracy to topple Mursi's administration.