Activists take Cairo's Tahrir Square after battle

PROTESTERS RETOOK Cairo’s Tahrir Square last night after a running battle with police armed with tear gas, truncheons, rubberbullets and birdshot.

Police had assaulted thousands of demonstrators who flocked to the square to protest against the removal on Saturday of a peaceful camp of 250 people demanding compensation for families of “martyrs” killed and injured during the 18-day uprising earlier this year.

Reports said five people had died in the weekend clashes.

Demonstrators affirmed their grip on the square by securing its perimeters. Prayers were performed by hundreds of devout Muslims while secular protesters formed lines to protect them, a feature of the uprising.

Throughout the day Muslim fundamentalists and secularists joined to chant “The people want the end of the regime”, the slogan that was raised across the country and which prompted the army to mount the coup that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February.

This chant is now being aimed at the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which assumed presidential powers following Mr Mubarak’s exit.

Protesters shouted “Down with the field marshal”, SCAF’s head, Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, regarded as an opponent of the revolutionary democracy movement. Others chanted “Tantawi is the enemy of God” as they pelted police with stones.

The authorities deployed widely hated black-clad police commandos in riot gear for the first time since January 28th, the most deadly day of the uprising.

Satellite television channels covering the events showed policemen beating unarmed demonstrators with staves. Activists contended that police had been told to aim rubber bullets at protesters’ heads and that several had consequently lost eyes. Two dozen injuries and at least one death were reported in Cairo.

Rallies took place in Alexandria where two people were said to have been killed and 600 wounded. Port Said, Tanta, Mansoura and Sohag also saw clashes between activists and police.

As clashes erupted on Saturday, 15 parties and factions signed a document calling for the SCAF to stand down, formation of a civilian presidential council, and a government of national salvation. Culture minister Emad Abu Ghazi resigned from the interim government, which met with the SCAF ahead of the crackdown.

The violence, eight days before the first stage of the parliamentary election, will not lead to its postponement, the government has said. Revolutionaries say Mubarak may have been ousted but his regime remains in charge through SCAF, which he appointed.

They say the SCAF will retain presidential authority after the convening of the post-Mubarak people’s assembly. No date has been given for presidential elections. Suspicions of the generals’ plans deepened after the SCAF proposed it should retain key powers in the new constitution.