(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, MAY 4 - At least 59 people have been
injured and five hundred have suffered the effects of teargas
used by security forces: around ten people have been arrested.
These are the provisional and bare figures following a series of clashes that have taken place in Cairo's Abbasseya Square, at the head of an avenue leading to the country's Ministry of Defence. Hundreds of people gathered here this morning in order to protest at the deaths that occurred two days ago, and to urge the military junta to step down from power. Dozens more protestors joined the group from a prayer gathering held in Tahrir Square. Numbers were further strengthened by the addition of groups arriving from the city of Alessandria, where further demonstrations have been taking place. The Cairo protest has seen Salafis, Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers, youths from the Revolutionary Coalition and from the 6 April Movement. All of them were united in calling on the military to hand over power to civilians, just twenty days ahead of the presidential elections. Eye-witnesses are speaking of numerous injuries following the use of water canon by the police, who apparently fired shots into the air when under pressure from the protestors. Repeated charges from the military police managed to clear Abbasseya Square by the end of the day, while witnesses speak of armoured vehicles driving up and down Ramses Street towards the square in order to head off further protesters. Members of the 6 April Movement and those belonging to the Jihad Movement left Abbasseya Square, making appeals to others to follow suit. A Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson also accused the military of being responsible for the incidents and invited demonstrators to keep calm. According to the protestors, the army also set fire to tents used by those staging a sit-in.
(ANSAmed).
These are the provisional and bare figures following a series of clashes that have taken place in Cairo's Abbasseya Square, at the head of an avenue leading to the country's Ministry of Defence. Hundreds of people gathered here this morning in order to protest at the deaths that occurred two days ago, and to urge the military junta to step down from power. Dozens more protestors joined the group from a prayer gathering held in Tahrir Square. Numbers were further strengthened by the addition of groups arriving from the city of Alessandria, where further demonstrations have been taking place. The Cairo protest has seen Salafis, Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers, youths from the Revolutionary Coalition and from the 6 April Movement. All of them were united in calling on the military to hand over power to civilians, just twenty days ahead of the presidential elections. Eye-witnesses are speaking of numerous injuries following the use of water canon by the police, who apparently fired shots into the air when under pressure from the protestors. Repeated charges from the military police managed to clear Abbasseya Square by the end of the day, while witnesses speak of armoured vehicles driving up and down Ramses Street towards the square in order to head off further protesters. Members of the 6 April Movement and those belonging to the Jihad Movement left Abbasseya Square, making appeals to others to follow suit. A Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson also accused the military of being responsible for the incidents and invited demonstrators to keep calm. According to the protestors, the army also set fire to tents used by those staging a sit-in.
(ANSAmed).
