Sunday, April 10, 2011

Egypt protesters defy military after crackdown

by Samer al-Atrush Samer Al-atrush , AFP, Apr 10, 2011
AFP
AFP – An Egyptian protester shows spent bullets and a blood-stained sheet at Tahrir Square in Cairo on April … 
 
CAIRO (AFP) – Several hundred protesters who held an overnight sit-in in Cairo’s Tahrir square after a deadly military crackdown stayed on on Sunday after the army backed down on a threat to disperse them.

The protesters, who blocked the square with a charred army truck, barbed wire and beams, chanted against military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who has been in charge since president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February.

“The people demand the toppling of the field marshal,” they chanted, after spending a nervous night waiting for the army to carry out its warning that it would enforce a three-hour pre-dawn curfew.

Soldiers, backed by riot police, had dispersed an overnight protest in the iconic square before dawn on Saturday, with one protester shot dead.

The military later warned that it would clear out remaining protesters, keeping the demonstrators on edge throughout the night as the countdown began for the curfew.

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