CAIRO: Clashes near the Syrian Embassy in Egypt are continuing into late in the night in Cairo after police attacked a march only minutes after it arrived earlier in the evening. While a tense calm prevailed for a couple hours, police again used tear gas and attacked demonstrators at around 11 PM in the evening local time. Reports from activists have said five people, including a journalist, have been arrested, but Bikyamasr.com could not confirm those reports. The march to the Syrian Embassy had been organized to show solidarity with the Syrian people, who continue to struggle to throw off the yoke of President Bashar al-Assad and his security forces. “We are going to occupy the Syrian embassy to show solidarity” with the Syria people,” said activist Abdel Rahman Mansour, who was carrying a Syrian flag and chanting with the few hundred strong march. Police shot tens of tear gas and exchanged rock throwing with the protesters who had marched from Tahrir Square to the embassy chanting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The police also fired bird shot at protesters as they ran from the area. Bikyamasr.com reporters saw numerous men being carried away by fellow protesters as they suffered from inhaling too much tear gas and were forced from the area. “My skin is on fire. It's burning," screamed a half-naked man as he approached Bikyamasr.com reporters on the scene. “They are using poisonous gas on us, I served with the military and I know it," added the distressed man. “This is worse than Mubarak days, not since the revolution have police attacked so viciously on people," said Heba, a bystander who works in Garden City as she left her office to join the march. The violence began literally seconds after the march of some 150 protesters arrived near the Syrian embassy, which was cordoned off by dozens of black clad, baton-wielding police. As the protesters reached the barricade, the soldiers pushed back with force. “Peaceful, peaceful," shouted a few protesters and warned women to move back in fear the police would attack. Only a few minutes later, after a few rocks had been thrown, much to the disapproval of the demonstrators, tear gas was fired indiscriminately at the group who had gathered at the intersection leading to the embassy. Waves of the police then began to throw rocks back at the protesters, then advancing with their batons held high. Protesters ran in two separate directions, the majority of whom ended up in front of the British Embassy. The police, however, continued to push forward, firing tear gas and advancing, then retreating. Later in the night, when the clashes subsided for a short period, police forced open the Nile promenade completely, which had for a short time been blocked by protesters. As one wave of attack of tear gas arrived, protesters were forced to dodge oncoming traffic in order to move away from the tear gas.
