Egypt military and police forcefully end Tahrir sit-in, leaving injured

Salma Shukrallah, Monday 1 Aug 2011

The Tahrir Square sit-in was evacuated by force, leaving several injured

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Military police and police have violently dispersed the sit-in staged in Tahrir Square where thousands of martyrs’ families and others were occupying the square.

Military and CSF trucks stormed the square's entrances, cheered on by some shop-owners in the downtown area surounding the square. The military forcefully opened the square entrances where iron bars and barbed wire had been used to block the way. The military police then went into the square to tear down tents set in the central island and near the Omar Makram Mosque.

The protestors were chased out of the square and some took refuge in the metro stations and the Omar Makram Mosque, which the military police tried to storm as well, according to protestors. 

Several were left injured after the attack and protestors are calling for people to send ambulances. One 15-year-old passed out inside the mosque out of fright.

Military personnel are reportedly destroying some of the revolutionary artwork displayed in the Tahrir Square metro station. So far an estimated 25 people have been arrested and several cameras confiscated, including a memory card from one Ahram Online correspondent.

Families of those killed during the revolution regrouped in the square after the dispersal and began chanting for justice, but were again attacked by military police.

Martyrs’ families, several political groups and independents remained to occupy the square after 26 political groups decided on Saturday to halt their sit-in during Ramadan.

The sit-in was launched on July 8 demanding retribution for the martyrs and calling for fulfillment of the revolution's as yet unmet demands. 

 

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