CAIRO: Two horseback riders from Nazlet El-Semman said that horses and camels entered Tahrir Square by mistake on Feb. 2 and were attacked by protesters, in their testimonies for the case of the “Battle of the Camel.”
On Tuesday, the court listened to the testimonies of horseback riders Kamel Atris and Sami Abdel Salam Hafez along with Islamic scholar and member of the Muslim Brotherhood Safwat Hegazy and one of the Tahrir Square protesters, Ahmed Abdel Salam Galal.
Twenty-five former top officials are facing trial for inciting and organizing the attack on protesters in Tahrir Square on Feb. 2 and 3.
Atris said that all the residents of Nazelt El-Semman sympathized with ousted president Hosni Mubarak following his speech on Feb. 1 and decided to hold peaceful protests in his support, lead by former MP and defendant Abdel Nasser El-Gabry.
Atris explained that the protests aimed at calling for the resignation of then minister of antiquities Zahi Hawas for threatening the livelihood of horse owners around the pyramids.
The protesters first headed to Al-Haram Street to protests against Hawass in front of the governorate headquarters, according to Atris. They were then lead by El-Gabry to Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandiseen where several renowned actors and football players held protests in support of Mubarak as well.
According to Hafez, El-Gabry later lead the protesters to the State TV building Maspero, to join other Mubarak supporters and garner media attention.
Military forces blocked Sixth of October bridge preventing the protesters from crossing. However, El-Gabry insisted on crossing flashing an ID card proving that he was a former MP to the military officers, who eventually let the protesters through.
The protesters on horses and camels then crossed through without realizing that they were heading towards Tahrir Square, Hafez said.
“I’ve never been to Tahrir Square before and I don’t know anything about this area whatsoever,” Atris said.
However, according to Atris’ version of the events, the protesters were heading back to Nazlet El-Semman from Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque when they detoured towards Tahrir Square.
“There were around 450 of us and around only five of us went to Tahrir Square,” he said.
Both witnesses denied carrying any weapons or receiving money to attack Tahrir Square.
“We only had the sticks we use to control the horses and navigate them,” Hafez said.
“They only used the small sticks to hit the horses and scare the protesters out of the way,” Atris said.
Hafez described the sticks as around 45 centimeters to one meter long, with a plastic rod attached to it.
He said that some of the protesters in Tahrir had batons.
“Supporting Mubarak was a happy occasion … we were only serving out country like many other Egyptians,” he said.
“We had our children with us in these protests and we are the ones who got beaten,” he added.
Atris’ brother and Hafez’s nephew were detained by military forces during the attack and sentenced to five years in prison by military courts.
The second witness, Galal, a Tahrir Square protester, said that thugs broke his arm, hit him on the back of his head where he received eight stitches and stabbed him with a knife below his left ear on Feb. 3 during the attacks.
At the beginning of the hearing, Hegazy was grilled by the court and lawyers for around an hour and half.
Defendant and notorious lawyer Mortada Mansour asked Hegazy whether the attack on protesters was premeditated.
Hegazy answered that he thought it was, citing a phone call he got in the morning of Feb. 2 from an anonymous businessman.
The businessman said that he was told by figures from the now-disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP) to bring his employees together at Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque to follow a group of thugs who will raid Tahrir Square.
The businessman refused to mention his name or the name of the person who gave him the orders, according to Hegazy.
Hegazy added that thugs detained in Tahrir Square during the attack testified that they were paid by people affiliated with former speaker of the People’s Assembly Fathi Sorour, businessman Mohamed Aboul Enein and former MP Ragab Belal Hemeida to raid Tahrir Square.
He noted that some of the protesters were intoxicated, according to doctors in the square on Feb. 2.
When asked by defense lawyers whether the thugs were aware of what they were saying under the influence of drugs, he replied that some were and others weren’t.
He also pointed out that the ID cards of some of the thugs proved their affiliation to the Ministry of Interior, adding that the some of the protesters had photographed the IDs on their cell phones.
At one point, Hegazy was offended by one of the defense lawyers who asked for evidence proving that Hegazy was even in the square that day. Hegazy refused to answer, threatening to sue the lawyer for accusing him of perjury.
While several lawyers saw Hegazy’s testimony as balanced, lawyer representing former secretary general of the NDP Safwat El-Sherif and five other defendants, Tarek Gamil, described it as “hearsay.”
“He hasn’t presented the names of any of those who claimed they took money from the defendants to raid the square and he didn’t present any of them to the military police himself,” Gamil told Daily News Egypt.
Tension was flaring throughout the trial between the judge and Mansour, as the latter interrupted the court and insisted on representing himself.
“I am the only one who runs the court here,” the judge told Mansour.
The trials was adjourned to Wednesday Sept. 14 to listen to the rest of the witnesses.
Six more witnesses are expected to testify on Wednesday.
