Affrontements place Tahrir au Caire – 3 juillet 2011

Chaos erupts in Cairo square as civilians turn against one another

The Associated Press

04.07.11

Clashes begin when dispute breaks out between protesters and tea vendors in Tahrir Square; Egypt Ministry of Health says 47 wounded, including 20 critically

Chaos erupted in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday night, as a dispute between protesters and tea vendors set off clashes among groups of young men armed with rocks, clubs and knives, and a tent city occupied by protesters was burned to the ground.

The clashes appeared to pit civilian against civilian, a departure from violence that flared in the square last Tuesday between protesters and the police, and pointed to lingering tensions in Egypt as the country negotiates a political transition while ruled by a provisional military government that has come under increasing criticism from the protesters.

Tahrir Square was the focal point of the 18-day uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February. Since then, protesters have reoccupied the square every few weeks to press the military council to follow through on revolutionary demands. Each reoccupation of Tahrir has ended in clashes … between protesters and security forces, or protesters and other civilians. As was the case Sunday night, it is not always clear which is which.

The clashes began around sunset and continued as darkness settled on downtown Cairo.

Some of the protesters said the trouble began when they tried to move their tent city away from the tea vendors, whom they accused of being « thugs » employed by security forces. Tea vendors brandishing knives then set fire to the tent city, said an activist, Karim el-Agamy, and pelted protesters with rocks and kerosene gas canisters. Another activist, Islam Ismail, said protesters identified two undercover police officers in the crowd and turned them over to the army. Read more…