CAIRO: Clashes broke out in downtown Cairo tonight between Egyptian security forces outside the U.S. Embassy and a march in support of a young man reportedly tortured to death last night. Hundreds of demonstrators carried the body of Essam Ali Atta in a massive funerary procession after funeral prayers at Omar Makram Mosque tonight. The procession moved around Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square – epicenter of the country's January uprising – before taking the body to Basateen cemetery for burial. The procession chanted against Egypt's ruling military council. When the march passed the nearby U.S. Embassy, some demonstrators began taunting members of Egypt's Central Security Forces stationed outside the embassy. They changed, “The Ministry of Interior are thugs!” The taunts escalated to clashes between the two groups, and security forces used firearms to disperse protesters, who threw empty water bottles and stones at the security forces. It is reported that hundreds of demonstrators attended funeral prayers for 24-year-old Atta, who died last night in Tora Prison. Atta's family and Egyptian activists say Atta was tortured to death by being sodomized with a water hose. He is being called the ‘Second Khaled Said,' the young man who died in police custody in June 2010 and whose death is considered a catalyst of Egypt's January 25 Revolution. Security sources deny the charge.
