CAIRO: Shortly after midnight local time on Friday reports began coming in that the Egyptian army was forcibly moving demonstrators from Tahrir Square and had surrounded a group of 200 demonstrators near the Egyptian parliament, also in downtown Cairo. According to information dispersed and confirmed from multiple sources via Twitter, military police used tasers and sticks to disperse demonstrators in Tahrir. Army personnel also took down tents in the square where demonstrators were planning to camp once more, insisting they leave. Other reports claimed that army personnel were joined by masked men, although Bikya Masr has not confirmed this. Outside the Egyptian parliament, a group of around 200 demonstrators were surrounded by military police. “Why are they surrounding us, civilians, with weapons?!” read a tweet by activist Gigi Ibrahim, who was among the demonstrators. According to reports, foreign journalists with the demonstrators were separated, questioned by the military, and told to leave. Nick Alexandra, Al-Jazeera English's producer, tweeted that the military “are trying to shut down parliament demo and don't want photographers there.” Earlier he reported that military police “tried to take my camera and are now detaining me ‘to check' my passport.” Others confirmed that foreign journalists were questioned by the military, but there have been no reports of prolonged detentions as of 2am local time. Egyptians are frustrated and worried by the military's attitude toward demonstrators, some comparing them to Egypt's hated Central Security Forces, who violently clashed with demonstrators in the early days of the Egyptian uprising. Other Egyptians, including a Twitter user called Egyptocracy, have taken a different view on the situation: “We are not under military rule,” she tweeted. “We are under military protection. Huge difference.” The Egyptian military's actions may be an attempt to enforce the curfew, which is supposed to last from midnight until 6am. Technically there has been a curfew in place since the police and Central Security Forces left Cairo and the military entered on January 28, but it has been largely ignored by demonstrators in Tahrir Square. Reports of violence in moving demonstrators from Tahrir Square, however, has begun a flurry of internet activity among Egyptians worried that the military's practice of nonintervention up to this point could be changing. In related news, Central Security Forces reportedly used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters in the Nile Delta town of Monsoura on Friday evening as well. BM
