CAIRO - A Cairo court has deferred the trial of Egypt's former interior minister Habib el-Adli and six of his top aides on charges of shooting to death peaceful protesters during the January 25 revolution, after scuffles between lawyers and policemen. Lawyers for the relatives of the martyrs killed during the 18-day protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak were up in arms, when policemen lined in front of the dock to block the defendants from view, an Egyptian Gazette witness said. He added that the lawyers called on Chief Judge Adel Abdel Salam Gomaa to order them away from the cage. "Gomaa ignored the request and asked them to continue with narrating their demands from the court," the witness said. "Some of the lawyers then approached the security officers and quarreled with them, shouting: Why are you securing such thugs!" The courtroom has become very chaotic when some of the relatives of the martyrs tried to force their way into the courtroom. El-Adli, one of the most hated members of the administration of Mubarak because of the brutality of his police force, and the other defendants, all police generals, are accused of ordering killing 846 protesters during the protests.
