CAIRO - Among the tens of thousands of protesters in recent days in Cairo, many were injured or killed when anti-riot policemen opened fired at demonstrators on what was dubbed “Friday of Anger”. There was blood everywhere on the floor of a mosque in central Cairo that had been turned into a temporary hospital to receive several victims, whether from Tahrir (Liberation) Square or the nearby area outside the Ministry of the Interior in Mohamed Mahmoud Street. Even ordinary citizens lent a hand at the makeshift hospital, after appeals had gone out for medical help, contributing to the efforts exerted by doctors, nurses and other medics. Medical sources at the hospital stated that the number of people killed in clashes with the police forces reached 13, while there were 75 injured people, including five children whose ages ranged between 10 and 13. They further said that the injuries ranged from severe to slight. There is yet no official tally about the casualties of violence in Egypt. According to eyewitnesses, anybody who had been close to Mohamed Mahmoud Street was exposed to the shooting. Tamer Kamal, 26, one of the injured, who had been hit in the hand with rubber bullets noted that he and a number of friends were attending the funeral of one young man called Mustafa Sobhi, 27, when they were fired at. The funeral procession consisting of the body of the deceased and the mourners moved from Tahrir Square and was directed into Mohamed Mahmoud Street. When it entered this street, the mourners were astonished that they were shot at by police at the Ministry of the Interior even after these policemen knew that they were firing at a funeral not a demonstration. In contrast, the Armed Forces present in the area had prevented shooting against the funeral. The small Ebad el-Rahman Mosque, which was turned into a hospital, is located in a street near Tahrir Square, where everyone was co-operating to rescue and treat demonstrators who injured during clashes with police, recall survivors. The mosque's sheikh was calling through microphone. “We need orthopaedists”. Dr Mona Mina rushed to give first aid to an injured young man who had been carried there by a number of people. According to Dr Mina, a large number of injured people went or were taken to the mosque, which was turned into a hospital last Friday, following President Hosni Mubarak's order to impose a curfew and the disappearance off the streets of policemen. Doctors faced difficulties in moving the injured people into large hospitals because of difficulties facing ambulances trying to get through. However, doctors succeeded in transferring the injured people, who needed more treatment than the mosque was able to provide, into hospitals through the private vehicles of volunteer citizens. Dr Mina remarks that throughout last Friday and Saturday, citizens were providing them with all their medical requirements, but if there were a critical case the doctors called for a private vehicle to move them. According to her, most of their patients were injured by live bullets in different parts of their bodies in addition to less severe injuries by rubber bullets. Most victims, who have been moved into the mosque hospital, were injured during the demonstrations that surrounded the Ministry of the Interior. Dr Mina also claimed that the Republican Guards took part with the police in shooting demonstrators. “On Friday, especially”, stated Dr Mina, “there were a number of fatalities and high number of injured people reached us. Live bullets were fired on the demonstrators and the situation did not become stable until the Armed Forces went on the streets at 11pm on Friday.” “ On Saturday, there were about 150 injured people, six of whom died, while a number of cases were moved into hospital”, Dr Mina added. “ I'm so sad because of the horrible scenes of injured people I have seen, While freedom has a price, we should insist on restoring our rights so that their blood does not go in vain,” she declared in conclusion.
