The military council warns it will not tolerate "evil plans" being drawn up to split the country and sabotage its domestic front, Amirah Ibrahim reports The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) yesterday vehemently denied accusations of an excessive use of force in reacting to a demonstration by Copts on Sunday in which at least 25 protesters died. The SCAF invited international and local media to a press conference on Wednesday to clarify their official point of view. Emara said that investigators were studying claims eyewitnesses made that "mysterious agents or provocateurs seized an army vehicle and used it to run over protesters." The SCAF members displayed on two big screens photos and videos shot at the incident, in front of the state television and radio Nile-side building called Maspero, on Sunday. "All these videos and photos are available on YouTube and were shown on private TV channels. They are not secrets of ours." In one video, shown on Al-Hayat TV, a group of protesters are climbing atop an armoured vehicle in which three soldiers were sitting. The soldiers were stoned after which the protesters climbed inside and started hitting the soldiers. Some protesters turned to the driver and split his head with a sword. Al-Youm TV broadcast reports by its team claiming to have seen protesters attacking armoured vehicles, dragging soldiers out and beating them with sticks. Official reports by the Health Ministry said 25 were killed on Sunday and more than 300 were injured. On that day, state-owned television reported three of the dead were soldiers. The following day TV made no more announcements concerning military causalities. A military commander was quoted on Monday as saying that one soldier had been killed. On the same day injured soldiers told reporters that the number of victims could be more. One soldier insisted that protesters had locked 14 of his colleagues in an armoured vehicle and set it on fire. "When we took their bodies out, they were completely burned," he said. On Wednesday, the Armed Forces said the soldiers who were killed on Sunday had been buried. However, Hegazi warned those who sought the help of foreign governments and invited them to interfere and violate the sovereignty of the country. "This is dangerous, threatens society and is rejected by all honourable Egyptians. The Armed Forces will not tolerate this and will fight it strongly and firmly," he warned. On Monday, the SCAF issued an official statement insisting it would continue to stand against violence and take strong measures against those who were attempting to prevent it from ruling the country. The SCAF issued another statement at the end of the press conference where it repeated its warning to stand firmly against violence and that it had zero tolerance for attacks on its troops. "People should not listen to calls to attack government and state facilities, particularly those guarded by security men who have strict orders to firmly handle any attack under any circumstances. Two days before Sunday's clashes, the SCAF decided to halt the trial of civilians in military courts. According to military sources this will not apply to those suspected of involvement in Sunday's clashes. According to Emara and Hegazi, the SCAF will adopt certain legal procedures to ban demonstrations. "Since the beginning of the 25 January Revolution, protesters used to cry 'peaceful, peaceful'. Then things went wrong. They start peaceful and end with a fight, chaos and always a third hand is blamed, supposedly of the ousted regime. We need to concentrate on the coming phase to complete procedures to transfer power to an elected government," Hegazi concluded.
