Egypt's ruling military council set in place a curfew in Abbasiya area 11pm Friday - 7am Saturday following MOD clashes; promises to punish instigators of violence and violators of army rules TheSupreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) in a televised statement Friday night issued a curfew in the Abbasiya area between Friday 11pm and Saturday 7am, after clashes between protesters and military police which saw 59 injured outside of the Ministry of Defence. The ruling military council claims groups attacked the army outside of their headquarters earlier that afternoon. Major General Mukhtar El-Mulla began his speech on State TV by reiterating SCAF's warning made during a Thursday press conference, in which spokesmen cautioned the public against protesting at any military facility, in particular the army headquarters. El-Mulla said that "irresponsible elements tried on Friday afternoon to bypass the security barricades around Ministry of Defence" and proceeded to "attack army personnel guarding the ministry with rocks and molotov cocktails." In response, El-Mulla added, "the army was forced to push these elements back." Consequently the Major General said that the ruling military council decided to enforce a curfew starting Friday evening and ending Saturday in the Abbasiya area and the surrounding streets leading to defence ministry. In addition, all legal procedures, El-Mulla said, will be taken against "anyone who participated or incited today's incidents in front of the ministry" or anyone who violates the rules laid down in the statement. Egypt's military police began firing water cannons at protesters 3:30pm Friday, after thousands-strong marches reached the army headquarters, inprotest of the ruling military council. Protesters responded with stones as clashes broke out. However, it is still unclear how the fighting started.
