Knives, petrol bombs return to Cairo streets

reuters.com

Mon Mar 7, 2011

By Tom Perry and Marwa Awad

CAIRO (Reuters) – Men in plain clothes armed with swords and petrol bombs attacked protesters in Cairo on Sunday night during a demonstration demanding reform of security services with a reputation for brutality, witnesses said.

Dozens of men wielding knives and machetes and hurling bricks and petrol bombs confronted protesters at the headquarters of Egypt’s state security, a force whose abuses fuelled an uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, they said.

It appeared to be the first time armed men in plain clothes had deployed in force against reform activists in central Cairo since Mubarak was forced to step down and hand power to the military, which has charted a course to democratic elections.

The scenes evoked attacks on protesters in Tahrir Square by men claiming loyalty to Mubarak during the 18-day uprising that led to his downfall. Since then, activists have pressed demands for deeper reform, including a major shake-up of the police.

Egyptian soldiers, on the streets since the start of the uprising, fired into the air for several minutes to disperse the protesters. As they ran, the protesters were confronted by men they described as thugs.

The state news agency said the demonstrators were trying to break into the building.

A branch of the Interior Ministry, critics of the state security apparatus say it functions as a domestic spy agency.

Its networks penetrated deep into society, monitoring citizens and tapping phone lines. Emergency laws give its officers wide powers to act against government opponents.

In the last two days, protesters have broken into 11 offices belonging to the state security apparatus across the country, seizing documents which they feared would be destroyed by officers to cover up abuses perpetrated by the force. Read more…

Egyptian protesters clash with troops over Mubarak documents

CNN

From Nima Elbagir,

March 7, 2011

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — Protesters and Egyptian security and armed forces clashed Sunday outside the Interior Ministry headquarters as residents expressed anger at reports that documents relating to ousted strongman’s Hosni Mubarak’s rule were being destroyed.

Sunday’s clashes capped a weekend of demonstrations outside the headquarters of Egyptian security organs over the reported incineration of documents relating to orders carried out under Mubarak. Protesters showed badly burned documents to reporters on Saturday, though the substance of the documents was impossible to determine.

Sunday, eyewitnesses told CNN that the armed forces responded by attacking the crowd outside the Interior Ministry. Gunshots could be heard, and protesters said they were struck by stun guns. Other protesters reported that pro-Mubarak gangs that operated in the waning days of Mubarak’s rule made a comeback.

Protesters told CNN that these gang members threw Molotov cocktails at them and that some people were badly beaten. Read more…

.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 7 mars 2011.

Publié dans émeutes, riots, الشغب