(Photo by Laurence Underhill)
Clashes erupted between police forces and protesters on Monday night leaving numerous people injured as thousands filled Mohamed Mahmoud Street and hundreds more the nearby Tahrir Square.
The official injury count from the Ministry of Health affiliated Mounira Hospital treating serious injuries was 20 while Tahrir Doctors reported 42. A field hospital doctor told Daily News Egypt at least 300 people were injured.
Most injuries were caused by rocks thrown between protesters and police or from tear gas inhalation, both the field hospital doctor and an ambulance officer confirmed.
“There were [also] some injuries due to buckshot,” said the field hospital doctor.
The clashes erupted during demonstrations held to commemorate the anniversary of the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes in which 90 people died last year.
Chants calling for the fall of the regime and the Ministry of Interior filled the street while street vendors sold gas masks to protect against the tear gas.
Motorcycles ferried the injured from the front-lines, where a wall was built earlier in the day to separate police and protesters, to field hospitals or ambulances.
The clashes consisted mostly of rock throwing on both sides although police also used tear gas and less frequently, buckshot. Earlier in the evening there were reports of rubber bullets being used.
Ultras football fans also made their presence felt, bringing with them fireworks and drums, and chanting for their comrades who were killed in last year’s clashes and during the Port Said massacre in February.
Protesters were angry that more of those responsible for the deaths of protesters have not been brought to justice. Only one police officer is standing trials over the last year’s clashes. President Mohamed Morsy has since promoted major General Ahmed Gamal El-Din, who was chief of general security and in direct command of the police during the clashes last year, to minister of interior.
Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood did not escape protester’s chagrin either. A huge sign on the entrance to Mohamed Mahmoud Street from Tahrir Square read “no entry for the Muslim Brotherhood.”
The Brotherhood denounced the protests this time last year, accusing protesters of attempting to derail parliamentary elections and the democratic transition.
