Two dead, Hundreds Injured by Riot Police: Cairo’s Tahrir Square

Local Editor

For the second day in a row, Egyptian police clash with thousands of demonstrators who staged peaceful rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The police killed two protesters and injured hundreds on Saturday. According to medics, the two deaths are of Ahmed Mahmoud, 23, who sustained a bullet wound to the chest in Cairo, and Baha Eddin Mohamed Hussein, 25, hit by a rubber bullet in Alexandria as the protests spread from the capital.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered at the Tahrir Squareon Friday to demand a quick transition to civilian rule and an end to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi's military council, which replaced the Mubarak regime.

The clashes began Saturday in Tahrir Square, when police fired tear gas as well as rubber bullets to break up a huge sit-in organized by some of the driving forces behind the Arab Spring revolt that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

In Cairo's iconic square, thousands of demonstrators shouted "Down with Tantawi," in reference to the post-Mubarak military ruler Hussein Tantawi. The protesters shoved rocks and other objects at armed police.

Police had seized the square, only to be beaten back by protesters who triumphantly retook it on Saturday evening chanting "The people want to topple Tantawi".

Also, Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed with protesters and used tear gas against the protesters in and around central Cairo's Square.

The military, in charge since Mubarak's resignation on February 11, says it will hand over power after a presidential election, which has yet to be scheduled. Parliamentary polls are to start on November 28.

Activists and political groups are increasingly critical of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)'s failure to live up to its promise of handing over power to a civilian ruling structure within six months of the February revolution.

Source: agencies , edited by moqawama.org