Tahrir Square Protests Turn Deadly

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Bryan Hood 690 Views Apr 9, 2011

Egyptian soldiers attacked protestors in Tahrir Square early Saturday morning, leaving two dead. The attacks, which were captured on video, began at 3 a.m. and continued for two and a half hours, with soldiers charging through the square and firing weapons in an attempt to clear the protestors. "They were firing bullets in the air at first, then rubber bullets and then live rounds. They pushed all the demonstrators out of the square," Tamer el Said, an Egyptian filmmaker, told The Guardian. The soldiers are also believed to have focused on several tents that housed army officers who had joined the protests. Thousands of Egyptians had set up in the square yesterday, calling for former-president Hosni Mubarak to be put on trial and for the removal of the head of the army, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi. The army denies that live ammunition was used, although Reuters is reporting that sources at a Cairo hospital claim that the two dead were among fifteen injured by gunfire.

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