CAIRO: Scuffles erupted in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday evening as voting in the second day of parliamentary elections came to a close. A health ministry deputy said that the number of injured protesters from the clashes on Tuesday has reached 88 people, with 60 of them having been treated at the makeshift field hospitals around the square. The rest the injured have sent to nearby hospitals to receive proper treatment. Hundreds of protesters, currently conducting a sit-in at the iconic square, clashed with street vendors after the vendors, who allegedly brought in “thugs” to aid them attacked the activists. “The square and Abdel Moneim Riyad [Square] are under attack from thugs who are firing randomly,” Ahmed, a young protester who was trying to organize traffic not far from the square, told Bikyamasr.com. “There are many injured and we are doing the best we can to stay strong,” he added. An unknown number of people have been injured in the violence, with a heavy presence of ambulances seen moving the wounded from the area. The clashes, which involved gun shots, Molotov cocktails and even large gas containers, started when the volunteers guarding the entrances of the square, tried to remove the vendors. The protesters accused them of trying to sell drugs to the people in the square, in addition to sexually harassing women. The activists have constructed a barricade out of metal sheets around Tahrir Square to keep the attackers out. The protesters in the square are accusing the military of being behind the attacks, saying that the sudden appearance of “thugs” came after the was complete and people busy with election news. BM
