Egyptian protesters clash with police in anti-government protests

[News_Editor]

Egyptian protesters clash with police in anti-government protests

2011-01-26 00:10:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

CAIRO (BNO NEWS) -- Thousands of demonstrators on Tuesday clashed with police in anti-government protests across Egypt, Ahram online reported. Dozens of people have been injured.

Security forces deployed prison trucks, riot police and police dogs since early in the morning to control protesters who announced plants to congregate in four pre-arranged locations in Cairo.

Just before noon, reports of protests began to spread. A number of protesters were heard chanting "Bread and Freedom" at the district of Dar El Salam, while 300 protesters demonstrated in the border town of Rafah in the Sinai.

Back in the suburbs of Cairo, youth marched around, chanting "Our blood, Our souls. We'll sacrifice for you, our country."

A couple of hours later a demonstration broke out in the city's Asafra district with protesters carrying Egyptian flags and chanting against the emergency law, which allows the Egyptian government to arrest people without charge and limits freedom of expression and assembly.

Sporadic riots also broke out in other areas across the country. An Ahram Online reporter witnessed a march of at least 2,000 protesters heading towards Tahrir square in downtown Cairo.

At 1:44 p.m., no clashes between police and demonstrators were reported in any of the demonstrations taking place around the country. Later, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights reported that 25 activits were detained in the cities of Assuit and Tanta.

Around 2.40 p.m, the independent Dostor website, which had been covering the protests, was down. In addition, the livestreaming service, Bambuser.com, was blocked by the government, according to human rights and activist sources.

Immediately after that report, clashes began to take place between protesters and Egypt's security forces. Police used water cannons against protesters in downtown Cairo, and demonstrators later climbed a firetruck and destroyed a water cannon. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.

An Ahram Online reporter described the area in front of the post office in downton Cairo as a "war zone" with protesters throwing rocks at the police amid water cannons and tear gas.

After four o'clock, Twitter service was also down in Egypt while clashes continued around the parliament. In Alexandria, protesters have exceeded 20,000.

Few details about casualties were immediately available, but a Xinhua news agency witness reported that dozens of people had been injured during the clashes.

Protest organizers were inspired by the Tunisians protests, which forced the collapse of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year rule.

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