During Tuesday's parliamentary session the Minister of Interior denies police used shotgun pellets against protesters, Ahram Online investigates footage and testimonies of injured activists The Minister of Interior Mohammed Ibrahim spoke in front of parliament on Tuesday afternoon, denying that the Central Security Forces (CSF) used kartoush (birdshot) bullets against protesters during the last five days of clashes near the Interior Ministry. Ibrahim instead blamed unknown third parties shooting from the crowds and reported that several police officers had also been injured by the pellets. This is despite many testimonies from injured protesters confirming the police used kartoush against them. The birdshot injuries of well-known activist Salma Said, 26, have been circulated widely on the internet and by national media. Doctor Syndicate Board Member Mona Mina, Said's mother, confirmed her daughter had received over 100 pellets to her face, stomach and legs on Sunday 5, February. "She was very lucky," said Mina. "One of the bullets was only 4mm away from her eye. Although there is bleeding on her eyeball, it will not affect her sight." Journalist Rasha Azab, who was with Said when she was shot near Mansour Street, described the attack: "The [CSF] armoured vehicle drove towards us shooting kartoush. Me and Salma fell to the ground and the shooting continued. "The shooting went on for 15 seconds, I approached Salma to carry her and found her face covered in blood. The vehicle shot at us again." Azab explained that when people came to Said's aid, the vehicle shot for a third time at all of them. Field-hospital doctors at the scene of the clashes confirmed that kartoush has been heavily over the last five days by police. Sherif Hussein, 32 a doctor at the Tahrir street makeshift clinic, told Ahram Online that the Bab El-Louq field hospital was forced to evacuate when police started firing birdshot at the doctors and injured. Abdul Zinaldin, 19,was wounded twice. "On Friday, 3 February at around 6am I was at the start on Mansour Street when an officer riding a CSF truck shot kartoush at me," said Zinaldin "the pellet was to my face, very close to my eye. I was also injured on Sunday, in an alleyway between Mansour and El-Felaky street. I recognised the police officer from earlier in that afternoon, he shot at me and I got 10 pellets in my leg." Ahram Online talked to graffiti artist and activist known as El-Moshir who also verified that the CSF shot birdshot. "On Sunday we saw a CSF vehicle coming out of the street, so we ran towards El-Hamedeya market cafe [on Bab El-Louq]," El-Moshir explained, "An officer on top of the vehicle shot several shots at about 40 of us. We were all wounded by kartoush. I got one pellet to my head, five to my leg and two in my back." Eye doctor Doctor Ranya Sobhi confirmed to Ahram Online that by the end of Thursday, 2 February, the first day of the recent clashes, hospitals had already received 14 protesters with pellet injuries to their eyes. "Police have to stop using these bullets," Sobhi added. These are not the first instances of police use of birdshot bullets. Ahmed Harrara, 31, a dentist became an icon of the revolution after losing both his eyes due to pellets shot by police on 28January 2011 and again on 19 November 2011. There are several documented cases of protesters having died due to the police use of kartoush, since the beginning of last year. On Monday, the Ministry of Health spokesperson Hisham Shiha confirmed that on the same day Said received her injuries, protester Ahmed Kenawy, 21, died at dawn from birdshot wounds to his neck and chest. However the Minister of Interior stated in Tuesday's parliamentary session that several police officers have been wounded by pellets, claiming that armed third parties among the protesters were responsible for shooting birdshot bullets. A recent parliamentary committee investigation of the clashes confirmed that a police general suffered an ocular explosion and seven police officers were injured by pellets. Nevertheless, the committee still held the Minister of Interior responsible for the violence and reported several birdshot injuries to protesters, including five wounded in the eye. Head of the Committee, Osama Yassin, suggested the "purging of corruption from the Ministry of Interior." Many activists have called for the restructuring of the Ministry of Interior and have blamed the ruling military council for the escalating violence, since the ouster of Mubarak. Mona Mina filed a complaint against the Minister of Interior and Field Marshall Tantawi, for the use of excessive force against protesters and accused them of intentionally trying to kill her injured daughter.
