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The Egyptian military is taking up positions between anti—government demonstrators and supporters of President Hosni Mubarak.
Soldiers did not intervene, other than firing warning shots, during attacks on the anti—government protesters on Wednesday by Mr. Mubarak's supporters.
Hours after automatic gunfire hit the protest camp at Tahrir Square, killing at least three protesters, soldiers carrying rifles could be seen lining up between the two sides late Thursday morning. Several hundred other soldiers were moving towards the front line.
Four tanks have cleared a highway overpass from where Mr. Mubarak's supporters had hurled rocks and firebombs onto the protesters.
Gunfire pounds anti-Mubarak protest camp
Heavy automatic weapons fire pounded the anti-government protest camp in Cairo’s Tahrir Square before dawn on Thursday in a dramatic escalation of what appeared to be a well-orchestrated series of assaults on the demonstrators. At least three protesters were killed by gunfire, according to one of the activists.
The crowds seeking an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly three decades in power were still reeling from attacks hours earlier in which Mubarak supporters charged into the square on horses and camels, lashing people with whips, while others rained firebombs and rocks from rooftops.
The protesters accused Mr. Mubarak’s regime of unleashing a force of paid thugs and plainclothes police to crush their unprecedented nine-day-old movement, a day after the 82-year-old president refused to step down. They showed off police ID badges they said were wrested from their attackers. Some government workers said their employers ordered them into the streets.
Violence intensifies overnight
The violence intensified overnight, as sustained bursts of automatic gunfire and powerful single shots rained into the square starting at around 4 a.m. and continuing for more than two hours.
Protest organizer Mustafa el—Naggar said he saw the bodies of three dead protesters being carried toward an ambulance. He said the gunfire came from at least three locations in the distance and that the Egyptian military, which has ringed the square with tank squads for days to try to keep some order, did not intervene.
Footage from AP Television News showed one tank spreading a thick smoke screen along a highway overpass just to the north of the square in an apparent attempt to deprive attackers of a high vantage point. The two sides seemed to be battling for control of the overpass, which leads to a main bridge over the Nile.
In the darkness, groups of men hurled firebombs and rocks from the bridge, where a wrecked car sat engulfed in flames. Others dragged two apparently lifeless bodies from the area.
Egypt’s health minister did not answer a phone call seeking confirmation of the number killed.
Both sides still battling with rock, flaming gasolin bottles
At daybreak, the two sides were still battling with rocks and flaming bottles of gasoline along the front line on the northern edge of the square, near the famed Egyptian Museum.
Demonstrators took cover behind makeshift barricades of corrugated metal sheeting taken from a nearby construction site and Mubarak supporters seemed to hold their ground on the overpass. Between them stretched a burning no-man’s-land of smoldering cars, hunks of concrete and fires.
The fighting began more than 12 hours earlier, turning the celebratory atmosphere in the square over the previous day into one of terror and sending a stream of wounded to makeshift clinics in mosques and alleyways on the anti—government side. Three people died in the violence on Wednesday and 600 were injured.
Mustafa el—Fiqqi, a senior official from the ruling National Democratic Party, told The Associated Press that businessmen connected to the ruling party were responsible for what happened.
Soldiers did not intervene, other than firing warning shots, during attacks on the anti—government protesters on Wednesday by Mr. Mubarak's supporters.
Hours after automatic gunfire hit the protest camp at Tahrir Square, killing at least three protesters, soldiers carrying rifles could be seen lining up between the two sides late Thursday morning. Several hundred other soldiers were moving towards the front line.
Four tanks have cleared a highway overpass from where Mr. Mubarak's supporters had hurled rocks and firebombs onto the protesters.
Gunfire pounds anti-Mubarak protest camp
Heavy automatic weapons fire pounded the anti-government protest camp in Cairo’s Tahrir Square before dawn on Thursday in a dramatic escalation of what appeared to be a well-orchestrated series of assaults on the demonstrators. At least three protesters were killed by gunfire, according to one of the activists.
The crowds seeking an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly three decades in power were still reeling from attacks hours earlier in which Mubarak supporters charged into the square on horses and camels, lashing people with whips, while others rained firebombs and rocks from rooftops.
The protesters accused Mr. Mubarak’s regime of unleashing a force of paid thugs and plainclothes police to crush their unprecedented nine-day-old movement, a day after the 82-year-old president refused to step down. They showed off police ID badges they said were wrested from their attackers. Some government workers said their employers ordered them into the streets.
Violence intensifies overnight
The violence intensified overnight, as sustained bursts of automatic gunfire and powerful single shots rained into the square starting at around 4 a.m. and continuing for more than two hours.
Protest organizer Mustafa el—Naggar said he saw the bodies of three dead protesters being carried toward an ambulance. He said the gunfire came from at least three locations in the distance and that the Egyptian military, which has ringed the square with tank squads for days to try to keep some order, did not intervene.
Footage from AP Television News showed one tank spreading a thick smoke screen along a highway overpass just to the north of the square in an apparent attempt to deprive attackers of a high vantage point. The two sides seemed to be battling for control of the overpass, which leads to a main bridge over the Nile.
In the darkness, groups of men hurled firebombs and rocks from the bridge, where a wrecked car sat engulfed in flames. Others dragged two apparently lifeless bodies from the area.
Egypt’s health minister did not answer a phone call seeking confirmation of the number killed.
Both sides still battling with rock, flaming gasolin bottles
At daybreak, the two sides were still battling with rocks and flaming bottles of gasoline along the front line on the northern edge of the square, near the famed Egyptian Museum.
Demonstrators took cover behind makeshift barricades of corrugated metal sheeting taken from a nearby construction site and Mubarak supporters seemed to hold their ground on the overpass. Between them stretched a burning no-man’s-land of smoldering cars, hunks of concrete and fires.
The fighting began more than 12 hours earlier, turning the celebratory atmosphere in the square over the previous day into one of terror and sending a stream of wounded to makeshift clinics in mosques and alleyways on the anti—government side. Three people died in the violence on Wednesday and 600 were injured.
Mustafa el—Fiqqi, a senior official from the ruling National Democratic Party, told The Associated Press that businessmen connected to the ruling party were responsible for what happened.