By Mai Shams El-Din
CAIRO: The military prosecution is holding 12 people for 15 days pending investigations after clashes between the armed forces and protesters in front Maspero left 25 people dead and over 300 injured on Sunday.
The names of 20 protesters were presented in the prosecution’s list of detainees, but only 12 were present Monday in front of military prosecution, a lawyer told Daily News Egypt.
The detainees are accused of vandalizing army equipment and public property, attacking army officers, leaving three officers dead and others injured, according to the accusations presented by the prosecution.
“No documents were presented to prove the deaths or injuries inside the army,” defense lawyer Ahmed Hishmat said.
Initially, reports on state TV said that three soldiers had been killed, but that report was later retracted. It is still unclear how many, if any, army personnel died on Sunday.
Deadly clashes broke out between army forces and protesters on Sunday night when a march to Maspero — demanding Coptic rights and condemning an earlier attack against a church in Aswan — was itself met with violence.
