|
Cairo: Military Deploys as Clashes Kill 20
Twenty were killed and scores were wounded in Cairo clashes that erupted on Wednesday outside the Egyptian Defense Ministry after a group of "unidentified assailants" attacked demonstrators protesting continued military rule.A military junta took interim control of Egypt following a popular uprising that led to the ouster of long-time president Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011. The generals have promised to transfer power to a civilian administration by January 1, but daily rallies demanding the junta step-down immediately continue to be staged. Security officials in Cairo who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters that the clashes broke out at dawn when a group of "unidentified assailants" set upon several hundred protesters who had been camped out in the area since early Saturday, when 119 were injured in a violent flare-up. Wednesday's violence led several presidential contenders to shift the focus of their campaigns to the perceived failure of the interim junta to stop the bloodshed. Some politicians from the newly elected Islamist-dominated parliament cancelled meetings with various generals as a show of disproval. Initial reports on the ground indicated the assailants were soldiers in plainclothes who started the clashes by hurling cinder blocks at the demonstrators, but it remains unclear if that was actually the case. Nor is it clear the victims were all protesters, or if any of the attackers were among the dead. Posted by: tipper 2012-05-02 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=343891 |