TROOPS AND democracy activists have clashed for a third day outside the cabinet offices near Tahrir Square as the ruling military council denounced protesters as counter-revolutionaries and vandals.
Ten people have been killed, 431 wounded and 164 arrested since Friday when troops, police, and plain clothes “thugs” (what Egyptians call plain-clothes security agents deployed against protesters) tried to break up a three-week-old encampment protesting the appointment to the premiership of Kamal El-Ganzoury, who held that post under ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
Military police have been caught on video stoning, beating and kicking protesters to the ground and dragging women by their hair. Activists point out that images of abuse by police and soldiers are not shown on state television channels accessible to the overwhelming majority of Egyptians. They are likely to believe the military’s contention, posted on its Facebook page, that the clashes are part of a “conspiracy” against Egypt and troops are required to defend the “property of the great people of Egypt”.
The military has tried to show itself as the defender of the nation while warning the public that security and the economy could collapse if unrest continues. This line has struck a chord with millions of Egyptians who want to carry on their lives without the constant disruption of protests and strikes.
Although hundreds of Egyptians flocked to the aid of the protesters, they have failed to draw hundreds of thousands of their countrymen back into the country’s streets and squares.
Secular activists who managed the mass protests that brought down Mubarak accuse the military council of committing human rights abuses and blocking the transition from autocracy to multi-party democracy to retain power.
As protesters battled troops, a neo-classical building housing the library of Cairo’s Institute for Scientific Research and its irreplaceable collection of documents were torched. Among the documents lost were the original volumes of the monumental Description de l’Égypte, a collection of observations by French scientists and literary figures during Napoleon’s 1898-1901 campaign in Egypt.
Meanwhile, in Syria, six soldiers were reportedly killed by army defectors near the restive city of Homs as Iraq attempted to mediate between Damascus and the Arab League.
The latter has threatened to ask the UN Security Council to enforce its peace plan if Damascus does not agree by Wednesday to implement it.
