CAIRO: At least two people were injured and three activists arrested on Saturday morning as Egypt's military police cracked down on a sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Journalists were barred from entering the area, but Bikyamasr.com was present throughout Friday evening and into Saturday morning. On Friday night, as potential Presidential hopeful Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail, known for his virulent conservative ideology, finished his speech in downtown Cairo on Friday evening, the crowds were energized. He then proceeded to inform the onlookers that staying in the city's iconic Tahrir Square was “not appropriate” and demanded the thousands of Egyptians who had gathered to not stay overnight. A few hundred protesters, mainly liberals, disregarded his comments and with their tents pitched, chose to remain in protest. Then, an unknown number of plainclothes individuals began attacking the protesters, tearing down some of the tents and violently attacking those who had remained. “People tried to storm the square and forcibly remove the protesters who remained around 10 PM,” said Bikyamasr.com's Luiz Sanchez, who was following a group of demonstrators throughout Friday's demonstrations. Calm returned to the square, Sanchez said, and a number of protesters began to take large bags and clean the garbage that had accumulated throughout the day. Shortly after midnight however, a group of armed men returned to Tahrir in a second wave of attacks. “A small band of armed people tried pushing people from the square,” he said around 1 AM. He said the unknown assailants were carrying sticks and knives and trying to run over the protesters who had remained. “The crowds kept advancing and retreating. Rocks were being thrown and people were freaking out,” he added. One protester had their wallet and money taken, while another received a blow to the nose, which appeared to break it, he continued. At least one person was carried to a nearby makeshift medical center to be treated for their injuries. Small clashes sporadically erupted throughout the night, but in the morning, the police arrived, riot gear adorned and batons weilded. When the police arrived, they raided the tent area, forcing protesters away from the square. According to Sanchez, who was hit in the leg, the families of the victims of the revolution were attacked the worst, receiving blow upon blow. “At least seven vehicles arrived to remove any of the protesters from the area and once that was done, the military and police made a cordon of the square, in what appears to be like the August occupation of the square,” he said, referring to the military's forceful removal of protesters who had conducted a sit-in throughout July, but were attacked on August 1 and forced to leave the square. What had been a Friday of unity in Cairo, quickly succumbed to emotions and a military government who does not want protesters maintaining a presence in the very square they demanded an end to the Hosni Mubarak regime 10 months ago. BM
