Friday of Rage protests were not peaceful: police chief

A police station chief testified on Monday that protesters during the Friday of Rage attacked police stations, stole weapons and later set the stations on fire

The 'Friday of Rage' protests were not peaceful, according to testimony given on Monday at the Giza Criminal Court during the trial of police officers for the murder of protesters during the January uprising against former dictator Mubarak.
In his testimony, General Mustafa Ibrahim Lateef, former chief of the Abu El-Namras police station, alleged that protesters on 28 January stormed police stations and stole weapons.
Abdel Lateef testified that one of the captains in the station was injured during the attack. He also alleged that the station was stormed by a large number of people prompting security forces to respond by firing tear gas into the crowd and by beating them back with sticks.
Trying to protect themselves from the attacks, employees in the station tried to bar the door of the station to stop attackers from entering.
He added that he heard shots fired but does not know the source.
The attackers, according Abdel Lateef, stole these weapons from inside the station and then proceeded to set the station on fire. He flatly denied giving any orders to shoot protesters.
Abdel Lateef's testimony was echoed by General Fathi Fetouh, deputy chief at the Abu El-Namras station, who also testified that on 28 January people stormed the station and set fire to police vehicles.
In the gripping and chaotic events of 28 January, several police stations across the country were set ablaze.
However, it remains unclear who exactly attacked the stations. Some allege that the stations were attacked by protesters, while others assert perpetrators were thugs. Others, yet, believe that police officers themselves set stations on fire in order to cause chaos and terrify the protesters.