Chaos In Cairo: Lethal Egyptian Police Crackdown on Tahrir Protestors
- Posted on December 17, 2011 at 3:44pm by
Buck Sexton
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(The Blaze/AP)– Hundreds of Egyptian soldiers swept into Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Saturday, chasing protesters and beating them to the ground with sticks and tossing journalists’ TV cameras off of balconies in the second day of a violent crackdown on antimilitary protesters that has left nine dead and hundreds injured.
The violent, chaotic scenes suggested that the military – fresh after the first rounds of parliament elections that it claimed bolstered its status as the country’s rulers – was now determined to stamp out protests by activists demanding it transfer power immediately to civilians.
Here is a video from Tahrir posted to Youtube, which shows a veiled woman thrown to the street, beaten, and stripped of her veil:
TV footage, pictures and eyewitnesses accounts showed a new level of force being used by the military against pro-democracy activists the past two days. Military police openly beat women protesters in the street, slap elders on the face, and pulled the shirt off of at least one veiled woman as she struggled on the pavement. Witnesses said they beat and gave electric shocks to men and women dragged into detention, many of them held in the nearby parliament or Cabinet buildings, witnesses said.
An overview of the protest crackdown from a window with a direct line of sight to Tahrir, as posted to Youtube:
Aya Emad, a 24-year-old protester, had a broken nose, her arm in a sling, her other arm bruised. She told Associated Press that troops dragged her by her headscarf and hair into the Cabinet headquarters. She said soldiers kicked her on the ground, an officer shocked her with an electrical prod and another slapped her on the face.
tents before crackdown
With Egypt in the midst of multistage parliamentary elections, the violence threatens to spark a new cycle of fighting after deadly clashes between youth revolutionaries and security forces in November that lasted for days and left more than 40 dead. The clashes in November involved the widely disliked police force. But in a key difference, this time the police have stayed away and the crackdown is being led entirely by the military.
That could indicate a new confidence among the military that it has backing of the broader public – after elections held under its watch that saw heavy turnout, were largely peaceful and the fairest and freest in living memory.
Ahmed Abdel-Samei, who came to check on Tahrir Square, said he opposes protests. “Elections were the first step. This was a beginning to stability,” the 29-year-old said. “Now we are going 10 steps back.”
Noor Noor, an activist who was beaten up trying to protect Emad, said, “Public opinion is addicted or naturally inclined to favor stability or the illusion of it. But in time, it will be hard for the army to cover everything up.”
The heavy-handed crackdown could galvanize the military’s opponents and even some in the public who praised the army for delivering clean elections. Among those killed Friday was an eminent 52-year-old Muslim cleric from Al-Azhar, Egypt’s most respected religious institution. At the funeral Saturday of Sheik Emad Effat, who was shot in the chest, hundreds chanted “Retribution, retribution,” and marched from the cemetery to Tahrir.
Tahrir and streets leading to the nearby parliament and Cabinet headquarters looked like war zones. The military set up concrete walls between the square and parliament, but clashes continued.
Flames leaped from the windows of the state geographical society, which protesters pelted with firebombs after military police on the roof rained stones and firebombs down on them. Stones, dirt and shattered glass littered the streets around parliament.
Protesters grabbed helmets, sheets of metal and even satellite dishes to protect themselves from stones from troops above.
In the afternoon, troops charged into Tahrir, swinging truncheons and long sticks, chasing out protesters and setting fire to their tents. Footage broadcast on the private Egyptian CBC television network showed soldiers beating two protesters with sticks, repeatedly stomping on the head of one, before leaving the motionless bodies on the pavement.
The troops swept into buildings from which television crews were filming from and confiscated their equipment and briefly detained journalists.
ap image
In one case, plainclothes officers charged up the stairs of a hotel from which Al-Jazeera TV was filming the turmoil below and demanded a female hotel worker tell them where the media crew was or else they would beat her up, a member of the Al-Jazeera crew said. “The woman was screaming and saying I don’t know,” the crew member said speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. The soldiers threw the Al-Jazeera crew’s equipment from the balcony, including cameras, batteries and lighting equipment to the streets, landing on a sweet potato cart whose stove started a fire.
Troops also stormed a field hospital set up protesters next to a mosque in Tahrir, throwing medicine and equipment into the street, protester Islam Mohammed said.
At least nine people have been killed and around 300 people injured in the two days of clashes, the Health Ministry said.
A journalist who was briefly detained by the military forces told Associated Press that he was beaten up with sticks and fists while being led to inside a parliament building, next to Cabinet headquarters.
“They were cursing me saying ‘you media are traitors, you tarnish our image and you are biased.”
He also saw a group of men and one young woman being beaten: Each was surrounded by six or seven soldiers in uniform and plainclothes beating him or her with sticks or steel bars or giving electrical shocks with prods. “Blood covered the floor, and an officer was telling the soldiers to wipe the blood,” said the journalist, who asked not to be identified for security concerns.
ap image
Mona Seif, an activist who was briefly detained during violence Friday, said she saw an officer repeatedly slapping a detained old woman in the face, telling her to apologize for objecting to the mistreatment.
“It was a humiliating scene,” Seif told the private TV network Al-Tahrir. “I have never seen this in my life.
Pictures posted online by activists during Friday’s fighting showed military police dragging several women by the hair, including young activists wearing the religious headscarf. One photo showed soldiers beating up a woman who appeared in her 50s.
ap image
Tahrir was the epicenter of the 18-day wave of protests that ousted Mubarak. The military was welcomed by many when it took power and proclaimed itself a partner in and protector of the revolution. Since then, tensions with activists have swelled. In a statement Saturday, the military denied targeting “Egypt’s revolutionaries,“ saying it was pursuing ”thugs” who hurled firebombs at its forces at the Cabinet.
Egypt’s new, military-appointed interim prime minister defended the security forces’ response. He denied the military or police shot at protesters, saying gunfire came from an unidentified group that “came from the back and fired at protesters.”
He accused the antimilitary protests that have been held for weeks outside the Cabinet building of being “anti-revolution.”
In a potential embarrassment to the military, a civilian advisory panel it created this month suspended its work, demanding an immediate end to violence and a formal apology from the ruling military council. Eight of its members resigned in protest of the crackdown.
The latest round of violence touched off late Thursday after soldiers stormed the antimilitary protest camp outside the Cabinet building near Tahrir Square, expelling demonstrators demanding an end to military rule and an immediate transfer of power to a civilian authority. Witnesses said troops snatched a protester, taking him into the parliament building and beating him.
Mustafa Ali, a protester who was wounded by pellet shot in clashes last month, accused the ruling generals Saturday of instigating the violence to “find a justification to remain in power and divide up people into factions.”
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Comments (86)
Dougalug
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 7:25pmall this mayhem co sponsored by barack hussein obummer who wanted to install the muslim brotherhood into power to help bring about israel`s demise!
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 7:46pmOh wow!!….I guess this is all that “peace and democracy” that Obama said the Egyptians would be having……Strange though, there sure is alot more smoke, fire, rioting and @ss kicking going on, than I would have thought I should be seeing in a “peaceful movement”……
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 10:48pmAh the smell of Molotov cocktails to go along with the sounds of gunfire, screaming men, women and children, and security thugs smashing heads in the Arab Spring. The largely secular muslim brotherhood, will be cranking down on all dissent, and No Blue Bras will be tolerated.
Way to go Barry
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 11:43pm@13TH IMAM…..I’m glad you cleared up that “blue bra” thing for me, since I was under the impression it was just foreplay….with extreme prejudice…….Merry Christmas!
Report Post »Anamah
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 3:47amThank you Mr. President!!! This is also yours Mrs. Clinton!!! All your creepy group were pushing for violence and protests. This is what you made your progressive Nazi Arab Spring, the rise of Islamic dictator ships, men reducing women to a meat hole… What are you waiting to impeach the nightmare women of the world!!! Defend and support the Muslims women freedom; those barbaric fanatic Islamics are willing to crush!!! Stop Sharia everywhere please.
Report Post »bhohater
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:08amSo much for Egypt’s peaceful transition to democracy. Within 6 months the protesters will be demanding the reinstatement of Mubarak.
Report Post »morristhewise
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 7:25pmFifty thousand Oriental mercenaries are needed in Egypt to disarm rock throwers and religious zealots. They should be recruited from the ranks of soldiers that owe no allegiance to any god. A mercenary is particularly glad to use physical force against any protestor who is fighting for a holy cause.
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 8:14pmSeriously, “oriental”? Do you also call African people “colored”?
Report Post »There is no way you are younger than 50 years old.
lukerw
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:35amThis is the definition of the… French Foreign Legion!
Report Post »paul1149
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 7:19pmI used to wonder why it was said that some people do not have the cultural building blocks of democracy. Now I know what it means: Islam – the ultimate excuse for doing anything.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:40pm.
How’s that Hope & Change working for ya’ll?………………..
Ya’ll shoulda just left well enough alone……………
Report Post »ArabChristian
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:55pm“Well enough” sucked for these people. Try living there. It might change your mind…
Report Post »Christhefarmer
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 7:07pmIf you look closely at the first video the guy that comes running up to the guys fixing the clothes of the girl they were dragging down the road is firing a pistol wildly at the dudes throwing rocks.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:36pmDemocracy can not function with intolerant, undisciplined people. Hmmm. Think all sides in Egypt will have a hard time adjusting to one another. Bet a strong, brutal force will prevail. Wish them well but….
Report Post »ArabChristian
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:31pm“Stone age Monkeys”? Watch your tongue…
Report Post »Ari Ben TZion
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:07pmI have said it a million times:
Leave the Arab/Muslim countries alone – they will annihilate themselves.
Report Post »carbonyes
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:42pmRead all about it! Read all about it! Another brilliant foreign policy display of the Obama administration.
Report Post »dudeman4
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:58pmWho are the two characters painted on the wall in the fourth picture? IIs there anyone here who knows Arabic that could tell us what the writing next to it says?
Report Post »Publius Novus
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:57pmWait until this happens in Iraq. Ammo for any Republican who’ll be the nominee. Are you safer now than you were 4 years ago? I hope they can get it together but they are still living in the 8th century. Sad.
Report Post »ArabChristian
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:20pmIt already happened in Iraq. There was a civil war there when our troops were there.
Report Post »bhohater
Posted on December 18, 2011 at 8:41amSame goes for Afghanistan. That god-forsaken rock pit is not even a nation in the true sense, much less a civilized one. In some of the remote tribal areas the kids use human heads as footballs.
Report Post »Unix
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:55pmAnarchy my friends, be prepared, stay thirsty.
Viva TEA
Report Post »mbean
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:53pmThey are cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Al Quaeda groups that want to implement Sharia law, and extremist Islamic terrorism. All of those groups are responsible for the attacks on Christians in Egypt.
Don’t be fooled by the MSM into seeing these “protesters” as innocents seeking democracy. They are the Arab equivalent of the Occupier anarchists.
Report Post »Thatsitivehadenough
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:10pmI think so too. And the unions, SEIU, TEAMSTERS, are behind both.
Report Post »ArabChristian
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:25pmThe Egyptian military is causing this crisis to stay in power. While the Muslim Brotherhood is odious, it might at least respect human rights a lot more than the thugs who have run Egypt for sixty years.
If the poster below thinks this is SEIU or whatever, he or she should take another look. We live in a real world where real violence happens to people who demand freedom in places like Egypt. Its not some cooked up conspiracy theory.
Report Post »ArabChristian
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:28pmSo you endorse torture and murder? Maybe you should grab a nightstick and start clubbing the “occupiers”.
Report Post »Todd P
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:37pmGreece, Egypt, Syria – America will go through this too someday…
Report Post »Wakeup Maggie
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:25pmSad state of affairs. Pray for them.
Report Post »ArabChristian
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:29pmYou are one of the few sane people.
Report Post »KOCHLEFFEL
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:18pmThey got what they were asking for.
Report Post »randy
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:53pmHow’s that Arab Spring working out for you idiots?
Report Post »How about it Obama? Anything to say now? Why so silent?
brntout
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:30pm@ RANDY He’s hoping it inspires the occu-do-dos so they react the same way.The police will be overwhelmed so the military will be brought in.The coming insurrection is coming.Duck and cover!
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:51pmThis kind of rampant rioting has already occurred in America. Watts, L.A. riots, Chicago 1968,
Report Post »Kent State.
My hometown, 1930.
Anybody with any years under their belts knows the price. Pepper spray in the face at Berkeley
is chickenfeed.
Rayblue
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:10pmI don’t space the sentences like this on purpose.
Report Post »It’s the computer working against me I tell ya.
barber2
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 6:31pmThought maybe it was some new poetic prose combo !
Report Post »Greenwood
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:51pmThe people and the governments are not mixing well just as in Daniel chapter 2 which has to do with our day. The clay (offspring of mankind) and the iron (governments) are in opposition on a global scale. It‘s funny how Time’s person of the year is the protester. Read all of chapter 2 but notice verses 41- 43
Daniel 2: 41“And whereas you beheld the feet and the toes to be partly of molded clay of a potter and partly of iron, the kingdom itself will prove to be divided, but somewhat of the hardness of iron will prove to be in it, forasmuch as you beheld the iron mixed with moist clay. 42And as for the toes of the feet being partly of iron and partly of molded clay, the kingdom will partly prove to be strong and will partly prove to be fragile. 43Whereas you beheld iron mixed with moist clay, they will come to be mixed with the offspring of mankind; but they will not prove to be sticking together, this one to that one, just as iron is not mixing with molded clay.
Report Post »Steelhead
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:49pmand of course the people here have no problem with your comment. it’s just one big happy family
Report Post »Collbuzz
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:46pmThis is what dem- o – cra – cy looks like! Congratulations Egypt!
Report Post »brntout
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:25pmFunny,they rioted for Democracy,now that they “have” one ,they are blaming everyone else for their misfortunes.
Report Post »Welcome Black Carter
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:48pm3rd century misfit society. They were bred for this and that is all they can be. “Til we meet in the valley…
Report Post »brntout
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:13pm@WELCOME BLACK CARTER Well said,sir.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:11pmOne must remember that the first protests were about the increase costs of BTU Gas, used for Cooking & Heating (Civilian; Economics). Then, Rebel faction protests… then, Christian protests. Now, some see these protests… as the Muslim Brotherhood, desiring to have their representatives placed in Government, with Power to control the Army, in a Country where the Army has always Ruled!
Report Post »jedi.kep
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:10pmIt’s been said a thousand times on here but…
…This is our future.
Report Post »Large Eagle
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:06pmObama owns it – Democracy in action
Report Post »MEANS2RESIST
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:07pmObama & Hillary’s arab spring, nice….So much for their tourism industry eh?…..another term for Barry & this will be us except….. Americans will not be defensless.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 3:57pmMubarak is gone but that was an illusion of change, we still got his people in charge of the country.
Report Post »Mikev5
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:38pmIt’s never just one guy it’s a group of people that gained power I don’t think Mubarak was all that bad sure he was no saint but he kept control of things and sure he was pocketing money but you know what all those country’s do no matter who is in charge.
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 8:23pm@MIKEV5, that is truly the worst argument one could make. You could say the exact same thing about any brutal, tyrannical ruler. Remember the saying “Mussolini kept the trains running on time”? Hey, as long as relative order is kept it’s fine to mustard gas your own people, steal their money, oppress their freedom of speech and freedom to assemble, and maintain a firm grip on the media, right?
The idea that as long as a leader is “keeping control of things”, they’re an ok leader is ludicrous. I am actually dumbfounded at your comments, sir. You know, Big Brother really kept control over the people in 1984 – would you want him to be your dictator? What about Hitler? Saddam Hussein?
Think before you speak, sir. You’ll do us all a favor.
Report Post »Steelhead
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 3:56pmman this could be anywhere, pepper spray in the face comes to mind.
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:46pmbeating with sticks, breaking arms, stripping off clothes….is quite a bit different a some pepper spray. How many OWS have been killed by the police?
Report Post »Epic Fail
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 4:48pmWakeup. The OWS were treated like the little spoiled pansies they are. I can only wish the OWS croud would have received this kind of treatment. Maybe they would stop being leeches on society and take a bath.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:58pmIf pepper spray & batons are interchangeable as you say, then one of them is redundant. But if you had to make a Hobson’s choice we all know you would choose pepper spray over a baton. I would. We all know you are full of it Steelhead.
For your next lie you are going top tell us rubber bullets & lead bullets are the same that they have the same chance to kill.