Roughly 2,000 anti-government protestors spent the night of 29 June in Tahrir Square staging a sit-in. The move comes after violent clashes Wednesday left 1,114 injured, according to recent figures released by the ministry of health.
The clashes erupted late Tuesday night and continued all through Wednesday. There are many conflicting reports on why the clashes erupted, first between the families of the martyrs of the January 25 Revolution and the police, and later between anti-government protestors and riot police.
Around noon, Wednesday, the Youth Revolution Coalition, the April 6th Movement and a number of other groups called for a sit-in. The sit-in currently occupies the main garden in Tahrir Square, with two tents erected thus far. Elsewhere there are makeshift camps. Nonetheless, it looks like anti-government protestors are gearing up for an open sit-in, with material to erect more tents being brought in.
The first night of the sit-in passed peacefully, though there was a heavy feeling of anticipation in the air. The numbers of protestors dwindled on Thursday morning with many activists taking early morning trains to Alexandria to be present at the conclusion of the trail of Khaled Said's alleged killers.
The postponement of former Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly’s trial earlier this week played a pivotal role in fuelling the 28 June violence, with anti-government protestors increasingly frustrated with the slow pace with which the trials of police officers accused of shooting down demonstrators during the revolution are progressing.
Will the sit-in go into its second night? Will the situation escalate further on Friday, 1 July? And will the Ministry of Interior continue to use force? These are some questions that will be answered today, but as judges in Alexandria have decided to postpone the fate of those accused of killing Khaled Said — for many, the face of the Egyptian Revolution -- it seems all answers are possible.
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