CAIRO: Downtown Cairo is a battlefield. The Egyptian military has all but declared war on the protesters after three consecutive days of fighting. According to medical sources, at least 13 people have been killed since Friday morning and over 700 injured, including over 200 Sunday night and Monday morning in fierce street battles. Rock barricades now mark downtown Cairo streets, forcing traffic away from the iconic Tahrir Square and ensuring activists have less and less ground to battle against the police and military, which has pushed activists from the Cabinet building on Friday morning to Sheikh Rihan street just off the main square. On Sunday evening, as the street lights went out above protesters, the police – the military had given way to the Central Security Forces (CSF) earlier in the day – fired tear gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets at the few hundred protesters tossing rocks. Three soldiers were taken hostage by protesters late in the evening during the battles, but were released shortly after. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has said the soldiers are now receiving medical treatment at local hospitals. The tension growing downtown is unmistakable. A group of activists, who told Bikyamasr.com they had been on the frontlines for the past three days, look exhausted. “We are just resting and preparing ourselves for more battles,” said Maged, a 22-year-old university student. He said the military has gone too far “and after the number of people who have died, we cannot stop. This is our revolution and they will have to kill us all if they want to stay in power.” The violence began around two in the morning on Friday after an Ultra – a hardcore football fan – was allegedly abducted by security near the nearly three-week old sit-in in front of the Egyptian cabinet building. The man was reportedly beaten up and tortured by his captors. Eventually, the Ultra fan was released, his face swollen twice the size after being punched repeatedly. Upon his release, fellow Ultras began chanting and then rock throwing ensued. “The military started throwing rocks first,” one protester told Bikyamasr.com. A number of tents were set ablaze inside the sit-in area. The military then opened water hoses directed toward the protesters, not the tents. At around 10 AM in the morning, smoke was still rising from the area, as broken rocks lined the ground around the area. Protesters, braving the barrage of rocks being thrown, had picked up plywood planks and were covering their heads from the rocks being thrown, in an attempt to get close enough to throw their own rocks back at the around 10 men high up on the building. At around 6 AM, security opened fire on the protesters. By then, the protesters had moved from the Magles el-Shaab to the main Qasr el-Aini street. Since then, it has turned into a stand-off between protesters and the plainclothes men above, with rock throwing persisting by the minute, with the frontline moving from the Cabinet to streets around Tahrir. The events of the past few days follow last month's violent clashes only a few streets away on Mohamed Mahmoud street, where protesters and security – police and military – fought brutal battles for 6 days. At least 70 people were killed in the street fighting, which galvanized hundreds of thousands of Egyptians to take to the iconic Tahrir Square nearby, medical sources told Bikyamasr.com. “We are waiting to see what happens next. When people wake up today, they will come and we will not stop this in the face of military,” Amr, a protester with rock in hand, told Bikyamasr.com on Friday. ** Nicholas Nazari contributed to this report. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/GU0RP Tags: featured, Occupy Cabinet, Protests, SCAF, Violence Section: Egypt, Latest News
