CAIRO: One of the three American students arrested in Egypt and accused with throwing molotov cocktails at the police during the ongoing street battles between the police and demonstrators has denied he threw anything and was “observing” the protests from a nearby rooftop. Kevin Sweeney, of Jefferson City, Missouri, told The Associated Press that 19-year-old Derrik Sweeney spoke “very briefly” with his mother about 6:30 AM on Wednesday using the phone of the consul general. “He said he was watching from the rooftop and said he was not throwing anything and the next thing you know, they were grabbed by the police forces and hustled off and basically made into a big public display,” Kevin Sweeney said. The three Americans include Luke Gates, Greg Porter, and Derrik Sweeney. They have been arrested on accusations of participating in the ongoing anti-military demonstrations in Tahrir Square. They allegedly picked up Molotov cocktails and hurled them at army personnel. A video broadcast on state television showed the three Americans lined up against a wall with their school ID's, credit cards, and an Indiana driver's license were spread out on a table. American University Cairo President Lisa Anderson confirmed that the young men are students there, and said the university is working closely with the US embassy to free them. The public showing of the three students being arrested allows officials to declare this a “foreign interference” with the domestic revolution. Local papers also reported an American being deported to the UAE for instigating the protests. “We're on a revolutionary trajectory. People aren't going to stop. People are going to keep escalating until something very drastic happens. There is an enormous amount of anger,” said Hani Shukrallah, the editor in chief of Ahram online. “I don't think people will accept anything less than really serious evidence that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is stepping back.” One blogger added “I don't know about the square, but the side streets around battle are packed with thousands of determined revolutionaries.” ** Joni Northam contributed to this report. BM
