Police, Protesters Keep up Clashes in Cairo

By Elizabeth Arrott from Cairo

Police in Cairo lobbed teargas Sunday into crowds of protesters angry at the military government’s continued role in political life.

Demonstrators kept control of Tahrir Square, and vowed to keep their revolution alive.  At least two people have been reported killed, hundreds wounded and hundreds more arrested.

Protesters surged back and forth on a street leading into Tahrir Square, as authorities fired teargas in a push to clear the area.

The fumes wafted across the square, where a few thousand demonstrators retained their positions after more intense battles overnight.

Man injured in clashes between Egyptian police and protesters

angry at army's continuing political influence in Cairo,

November 20, 2011. Photo:VOA - E. Arrott

While police were leading the charge, it is the military government - the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces - that has incurred the protesters’ wrath.  They are furious at what they see as efforts by the SCAF to keep a hand in politics even under a civilian government, as well as to place itself outside civilian oversight.

Protester Yousef, among those in the square, said, “I just wanted to know why they do this. We came today and yesterday to ask for democracy and we don’t want the army to be over the people.  I mean we make revolution to say no, we just need democracy.”

In recent days the SCAF revised its position on the army’s future role.  The ruling government now says what is known as the Selmi proposal is not binding.

The announcement did little to appease the crowd, which vowed to carry on the uprising that toppled the government of Hosni Mubarak in February.

One protester shouted, "We will start our revolution again.  It’s not finished yet.  Understand?  Not finished.  Not the second [revolution] - the same revolution."

The violence comes just over a week before the first parliamentary elections since the uprising are set to begin, and has led to suspicions that authorities are deliberately provoking unrest in order to postpone the vote.

But not all blame the institution as a whole, as viewed by a protester who said, “Egyptian people like the army, okay.  But the council of army, this is a problem. But we like our army.”

The violence began Saturday, as police moved in to clear Tahrir of a few hundred people camped out after an anti-government protest Friday.  The crackdown drew thousands of people from across the capital to help counter the offensive. ---VOA News