Egypt's military clashes with protesters in Cairo

[December 17, 2011]  CAIRO (AP) -- Egyptian soldiers clashed with hundreds of rock-throwing protesters in central Cairo for a second consecutive day on Saturday, hurling stones from rooftops and firing water from hoses in a crackdown that has left at least eight people dead.

The violence has brought to the fore the simmering tensions between security officers and activists demanding an end to military rule, and threatened to spark a new cycle of fighting after deadly clashes between youth revolutionaries and security forces in November that lasted for days and left more than 40 dead.

Early Saturday, hundreds of protesters hurled stones at security forces who have sealed off the streets around the country's parliament building with barbed wire and large concrete blocks. Soldiers on rooftops pelted the crowds below with stones, prompting many of the protesters to pick up helmets, satellite dishes or sheets of metal to try to protect themselves.

Stones, dirt and shattered glass covered the streets between the two sides, while flames came out of the windows of a two-story building set ablaze near parliament, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the sky.

Witnesses said soldiers wielding wooden sticks and dressed in riot gear chased protesters through the streets, forcing them to retreat to nearby Tahrir Square, which served as the epicenter of the uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in February.

Later, soldiers stormed into Tahrir to disperse the protesters, and set fire to their tents. A huge cloud of black smoke hung over downtown Cairo as the tents burned.

There were reports of live gunfire from the rooftops, and the MENA state news agency said at least eight people have been killed and around 300 people injured in the two days of clashes.

Egypt's prime minister acknowledged that people had died from gunshot wounds, but denied the military and the police fired at protesters instead said "a group came from the back and fired at protesters" and said that his government is for "the salvation of the revolution."

The violence first began late Thursday after soldiers stormed an antimilitary protest camp outside the Cabinet building near Tahrir Square, expelling demonstrators demanding an end to military rule and an immediate transfer of power to a civilian authority. Witnesses said troops snatched a protester, taking him into the parliament building and beating him.

The soldiers later moved in, burning protesters' tents. Video footage and pictures showed military police in uniform dragging female protesters from hair, beating men and occupying rooftops of the Cabinet building.

The military took over after longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolt in February. Rights groups and activists charge that the military is carrying on the practices of the old regime, including arresting and beating dissidents.

Funerals were expected Saturday for those killed a day earlier. Among the dead was Sheik Emad Effat, a cleric from Al-Azhar, Egypt's most eminent religious institution. Effat had taken a pro-revolutionary position, criticizing the military and issuing a religious decree forbidding voting for former members of the regime in elections. He was shot in the chest after joining the protesters outside the Cabinet.

Many Egyptians have grown increasingly wary of the military and frustrated with its handling of the country's transition period, and activists accuse the ruling generals of trying to hang on to power.

El-Ganzouri, a Mubarak-era politician who was named prime minister few days after violent protests broke out last month, blamed demonstrators for fueling the latest clashes by demolishing a wall of the Cabinet building, setting fire to the building and smashing surveillance cameras.

He said that the military forces guarding the building from inside have not been taken part in the clashes. He added that protesters are not "the pure revolutionaries" he knew, saying "a 12-year old boy can't be a revolutionary."

"I feel very sad and in so much pain," he told reporters in a press conference aired on Egyptian state TV. "I stress here that the armed forces didn't engage with protesters and didn't leave the building."

Mustafa Ali, a protester who was wounded by pellet shot in clashes last month, on Saturday accused the ruling generals of instigating the violence to "find a justification to remain in power and divide up people into factions."

In a statement read on state TV Friday night, the ruling military said its forces did not intend to break up the protest and said officers showed self-restraint, denying the used any gunfire. It said the clashes began when a military officer was attacked while on duty and protesters tried to break into the parliament compound.

The young activists who led the protests against Mubarak have not translated that success into results at the polls, where Islamist parties won a clear majority of seats in the first round of voting last month over the more liberal parties that emerged from the uprising. Results from this week's second round are expected in the coming days, with the rest of the country set to vote next month.

Images of troops protecting polling centers and soldiers carrying the elderly to the polls have served to boost the military's image as guardians of the country. The military remains the ultimate authority on all matters of state in absence of a president.

The second round of voting took place Wednesday and Thursday in nine of the country's 27 provinces. It covered vast rural areas where the religious stand of Islamist parties has strong support.

[Associated Press; By MAGGIE MICHAEL]

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