By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: Two people were announced dead on Monday as the crackdown on protesters by security forces continued in downtown Cairo, raising the death toll to 12, according to the Ministry of Health.
Some reports put the number of those killed at 13, while doctors working at field hospitals in the square said six were killed in a raid early Monday.
Violence has been raging in Cairo since Friday, when military forces guarding the Cabinet building near Tahrir Square cracked down on a three-week-old peaceful sit-in to demand Egypt’s ruling generals immediately hand power to a civilian authority.
The army has said that no violence was used against protesters and that soldiers are merely protecting government buildings.
Dr Ashraf Yehia El Rifai, assistant chief medical examiner at Zeinhom Morgue, said Monday that two more bodies were due to arrive.
“The 10 bodies we received since Friday include nine deaths from live ammunition and one as a result of a blunt force trauma,” he explained.
Two bodies remain at the morgue, including that of 30-year-old Mohamed Mohy, whose family was finalizing procedures at the Sayeda Zeinab prosecution office and was expected to receive the body on Monday.
The second body, of a 20-year-old male, is yet to be identified.
Fifteen people are still being treated at Qasr Al-Ainy Hospital, according to Heba Abou Saeda from the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. The most critical case is 27-year-old Sameh Anwar Awad, the only patient currently in intensive care suffering from two gunshots wounds in the stomach.
“There isn’t the proper care here and they told us if we move him he will die,” said his sister Hasnaa Anwar Awad, adding that they wanted to transfer him to the Armed Forces Hospital after they “heard on TV that they’ll provide free treatment to the injured.”
“We need help; we’ve heard endless statements from the Minister of Health about the treatment of the injured at private hospitals but we haven’t seen anything,” his brother, Mohamed Anwar Awad, said.
“There aren’t any facilities here, we had to buy 19 blood bags from outside the hospital since they weren’t available,” he explained. The blood bags cost LE 3,815, LE 500 of which were donated by doctors and the rest by volunteers.
Awad regularly participated in demonstrations against the military rule, the latest of which was on Mohamed Mahmoud Street in November where his arm was burned.
The injured also included two 10-year-old and 12-year-old boys, both injured during the clashes with the army, but were released on Monday.
Another critical case is Karim Ahmed Bayoumy, 22, injured on his way to a wedding last Friday. He suffered fractures in his shoulder, stomach and lungs reportedly from live ammunition.
“We were going towards Saad Zaghloul Street when we saw army officers shooting and chaos ensued as people screamed and ran. We went to see what we can do to help and Karim got shot,” said his friend, Hossam El-Sayed.
