Anger and grief in Cairo following deadly clashes
By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
Thu, 2011-02-03, 16:26
Cairo (dpa) - Abir Taha sat together with 10 women, all clad in black, outside Qasr el-Aini hospital in central Cairo on Thursday. Their eyes were puffed and swollen, and all were wailing, but Taha was the most angry amongst them.
Her father, Taha Mohamed Kamel, died overnight at the age of 54 while protesting for democracy in Tahrir Square, the city's central plaza.
"He was opposing the regime, and the regime has killed him," said Taha, while waiting with her family for doctors to release his body.
Tahrir Square in central Cairo was the scene of violent clashes late Wednesday and early Thursday, between opposition protesters and government supporters, with at least 830 injured.
The Ministry of Health said five people were killed, as political unrest in Egypt was in its 10th day, over calls for democratic and economic reforms - and the ouster of President Hosny Mubarak.
The father joined protesters in Tahrir on Wednesday night with his son, like they did nearly every day over the past week. According to Abir, Kamel had been protesting against the president when he was struck by a bullet and died. She blamed pro-Mubarak protesters.
"Egypt will always be Egypt, but in this country people have turned into traitors," Abir shouted, irreconcilable.
Kamel, who left behind three sons and a daughter, was caught in the fighting that erupted between reformist and pro-government camps.
Thousands of people from the two sides attacked each other. Rioters, some on horseback and on camels, others armed with sticks, rocks, knives and guns, attacked people in the square.
Witnesses told the German Press Agency dpa that the pro-Mubarak protesters, who some of them were discovered to be plain-clothed security officers, threw Molotov cocktails and tear gas at demonstrators in the square, whose name in Arabic means liberation.
The military issued a statement saying it did not fire live rounds, and protesters pointed fingers at police forces.
The family were trying to calm Abir - her cousins worried plain-clothed police officers were standing at the door of the hospital, just down the road from Tahrir Square. The secret police in Egypt are dreaded, even with the recent breakdown in law and order.
Dozens of those injured in the clashes arrived at the emergency room overnight. Most were hit by stones and many were bleeding, according to witnesses.
A security guard at the hospital said the seriously injured were transferred in ambulances to another branch of the same hospital for further care.
"We do not ask from which side those injured belong to, we just ask for their name and ID number," said the man, wearing a beige suit and standing at the entrance of the emergency room, professing medical neutrality.
He declined to give a figure on how many have been injured, saying he did not have access to the registration books.
The heavy clashes between the two camps began after Mubarak, 82, rejected calls for him to step down, saying on Tuesday night: "This country is my homeland and I will die on its soil."
Mubarak offered only to step down at the end of his term in September, after ruling for almost 30 years.
"The state has killed my father, it was policemen in plain clothes who shot him. I say it out loud, I'm not afraid," shouted Abir.
"We will all die eventually," she added, with a mix of fearlessness and overwhelming grief.
Her father, Taha Mohamed Kamel, died overnight at the age of 54 while protesting for democracy in Tahrir Square, the city's central plaza.
"He was opposing the regime, and the regime has killed him," said Taha, while waiting with her family for doctors to release his body.
Tahrir Square in central Cairo was the scene of violent clashes late Wednesday and early Thursday, between opposition protesters and government supporters, with at least 830 injured.
The Ministry of Health said five people were killed, as political unrest in Egypt was in its 10th day, over calls for democratic and economic reforms - and the ouster of President Hosny Mubarak.
The father joined protesters in Tahrir on Wednesday night with his son, like they did nearly every day over the past week. According to Abir, Kamel had been protesting against the president when he was struck by a bullet and died. She blamed pro-Mubarak protesters.
"Egypt will always be Egypt, but in this country people have turned into traitors," Abir shouted, irreconcilable.
Kamel, who left behind three sons and a daughter, was caught in the fighting that erupted between reformist and pro-government camps.
Thousands of people from the two sides attacked each other. Rioters, some on horseback and on camels, others armed with sticks, rocks, knives and guns, attacked people in the square.
Witnesses told the German Press Agency dpa that the pro-Mubarak protesters, who some of them were discovered to be plain-clothed security officers, threw Molotov cocktails and tear gas at demonstrators in the square, whose name in Arabic means liberation.
The military issued a statement saying it did not fire live rounds, and protesters pointed fingers at police forces.
The family were trying to calm Abir - her cousins worried plain-clothed police officers were standing at the door of the hospital, just down the road from Tahrir Square. The secret police in Egypt are dreaded, even with the recent breakdown in law and order.
Dozens of those injured in the clashes arrived at the emergency room overnight. Most were hit by stones and many were bleeding, according to witnesses.
A security guard at the hospital said the seriously injured were transferred in ambulances to another branch of the same hospital for further care.
"We do not ask from which side those injured belong to, we just ask for their name and ID number," said the man, wearing a beige suit and standing at the entrance of the emergency room, professing medical neutrality.
He declined to give a figure on how many have been injured, saying he did not have access to the registration books.
The heavy clashes between the two camps began after Mubarak, 82, rejected calls for him to step down, saying on Tuesday night: "This country is my homeland and I will die on its soil."
Mubarak offered only to step down at the end of his term in September, after ruling for almost 30 years.
"The state has killed my father, it was policemen in plain clothes who shot him. I say it out loud, I'm not afraid," shouted Abir.
"We will all die eventually," she added, with a mix of fearlessness and overwhelming grief.
