CAIRO – The Government boosted security troops in Cairo streets yesterday as the police launched a large scale manhunt for unidentified thugs accused of attacking passers-by and shops in bloody clashes that broke out in Ramses Square on Tuesday night, officials said. The move also came following a large scale clashe between police troops and street vendors, who have been occupying the square since February 11, the officials said. The remarks came amid stepped-up rhetoric by the Interior Ministry, reflecting the Cairo residents' growing frustration in the wake of a security chaos that has gripped the nation since the January 25 revolution. The police were deployed on the Square, after more than 25 people were injured in clashes between municipality officials and unlicensed vendors. They said prosecutors ordered the arrest of the attackers after taking the testimony of the 25 persons, who were hurt in the clashes in which hundreds of people from both sides fought with sticks and hurled bricks and firebombs at one another. Four policemen were among the injured too, they added. "More than 25 people have been hurt during the clashes," the officials said, adding that a considerable amount of commodities was damaged during the melee, which lasted for 30 minutes. However, an eyewitness denied the officials' stories saying that the clashes broke out after some owners wanted to remove the vendors away from their shops by force. "The vendors called in their friends and male family members, who chided the shop owners for using force against the hawkers," the eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, said. Hundreds of the angry men headed towards the shops and started pelting them with stones and home-made firebombs, the eyewitness said. "This was just the beginning of a huge clash between the vendors, who were carrying weapons and firebombs, and the shop owners," he said, adding that a police contingent has failed to contain the explosive situation. Later on, the the police pushed on with their crackdown on crime rings in Cairo arresting more fugitives, suspects, hawkers and sellers of fireworks, security sources said on Wednesday. The latest arrests are part of a major sweep launched following orders by Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawi, who wanted the police to continue with their raids against the sellers of fireworks, and seize their illegal and harmful goods. During the raid, police seized seven tear gas bombs, a home-made explosive device, 330,000 dangerous firecrackers, rockets, bottle rockets, sparklers, fountains, and Roman candles, the sources said. Each year, Egyptians waste LE219 million ($39 million) on ground fireworks, which the Government should ban their import and sales to children. Officials have declared these fireworks to be dangerous because they produce a practical effect by explosion that can be harmful to the users or by standers. The Government has approved a law that incriminates the import, delivery, distribution or selling of dangerous fireworks. But, the law is ignored and rarely applied. Also, on Tuesday night, security forces in Giza thwarted a bid by six detainees to escape from el-Ayyat Police Station after setting the detention room on fire and breaking open its gate, official sources said. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry confirmed that the gate of the detention room had been damaged. "But the station's officers and guards prevented the six detainees from running away," the spokesman said.
