DTN News - - EGYPT IN CRISIS: Cairo - Pro-Mubarak Groups Lobbing Rocks At Protesters
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By MELANIE LIDMAN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT AND AP 02/02/2011
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 2, 2011: Gov't supporters take over army vehicles, throw rocks at protesters from surrounding buildings, according to reports; gun shots heard at Tahrir square after protests turn violent; over 100 reported injured.
Pro-Mubarak groups took over three army vehicles and lobbed rocks and other items at anti-government protestors from surrounding buildings, amid clashes that have been raging at Tahrir Square since Wednesday afternoon, reported.
Pro-government supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (L) clash with anti-government protesters in Tahrir square in central Cairo February 2, 2011. Egypt's army denied firing any shots in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where pro- and anti-government protesters were clashing, state television said on Wednesday. (Photo from Reuters Pictures)
Pro and anti-Mubarak supporters clash at Tahrir Square in Cairo February 2, 2011. Opponents and supporters of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak fought with fists, stones and clubs in Cairo on Wednesday in what appeared to be a move by forces loyal to the Egyptian leader to end protests calling for him to quit. (Photo from Reuters Pictures)
A pro-Mubarak protester captured by anti-government demonstrators is handed over to the army during clashes at Tahrir Square in Cairo February 2, 2011. Opponents and supporters of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak fought with fists, stones and clubs in Cairo on Wednesday in what appeared to be a move by forces loyal to the Egyptian leader to end protests calling for him to quit. (Photo from Reuters Pictures)
Witnesses at Tahrir Square also said they heard several shots fired into the air, according to the report.
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Earlier Wednesday, protests in Cairo turned violent, with protesters throwing large rocks at each other as pro-Mubarak demonstrators tore down anti-Mubarak banners that have decorated Tahrir Square for three days. Tanks on the periphery of the square were starting to move in anticipation of unruly crowds.
Live video broadcast by Al Jazeera showed men on camels and horseback hitting people in the square with whips as they rode through the crowds. Pro-government protesters continued to flow into the square, according to reports.
Over 100 people were injured in the clashes and an ensuing stampede, Al Jazeera reported. Women and children were hiding behind tanks in the streets as men in suits threw stones at each other. The protests have not been this violent in nearly a week.
The army was using tear gas to disperse crowds although later reports said that the military was standing by, allowing clashes to continue. The military has said several times that it has not and will not use force against Egyptian civilians.
Although protests in the central Cairo square have been mostly peaceful since Sunday, the crowds have also been entirely anti-Mubarak until now. Thousands of the Egyptian president's supporters were streaming into the square Wednesday afternoon waving flags and giants posters of the 30-year ruler of Egypt.
Four Israeli journalists were arrested by Egyptian military police in Cairo on Wednesday. Three of those arrested work for Channel 2 and the fourth is from Nazareth.
The issue was being dealt with by the Foreign Ministry.
Earlier, anti-government demonstrators were seen forming a human chain in an attempt to keep Mubarak supporters from reaching Tahrir Square early Wednesday afternoon.
Pro-government protesters began taking to the streets in the thousands in the morning, hours after Mubarak made a defiant speech promising to serve out the last months of his term and to "die on Egyptian soil."
On Wednesday morning, the Egyptian military called for an end to more than a week of demonstrations demanding Mubarak step down.
"Your message has arrived, your demands became known," military spokesman Ismail Etman said on state television in an address directed to young protesters. "You are capable of bringing normal life to Egypt."
The Mediterranean city of Alexandria saw clashes erupt between several hundred protesters and government supporters early Wednesday, Al-Jazeera televisionfootage showed.
Several thousand people outside Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in the upper-class neighborhood of Mohandiseen waved Egyptian flags and carried a large printed banner with Mubarak's face. Many passing cars honked in apparent support.
Police officers surrounded the area and directed traffic.
The April 6 group, young pro-democracy activists who have used social media and mobile phones to draw people to Tahrir Square, said Mubarak's speech would not satisfy them.
He said he would serve out the rest of his term working "to accomplish the necessary steps for the peaceful transfer of power." He said he will carry out amendments to rules on presidential elections, and vowed not to flee the country.
The step came after heavy pressure from his top ally, the . Soon after Mubarak's address, US President Barack Obama said at the White House that he had spoken with Mubarak and "he recognizes that the status quo is not sustainable and a change must take place." Obama said he told Mubarak that an orderly transition must be meaningful and peaceful, must begin now and must include opposition parties.
Mubarak would be the second Arab leader pushed from office by a popular uprising in the history of the modern Middle East, following the ouster last month of the president of Tunisia — another North .
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