La police militaire en cagoule disperse les occupants de Tahrir au Caire - 26 février

Heurts en Égypte : l'armée s'excuse

L'armée égyptienne a présenté ses excuses ce matin après des affrontements dans la nuit entre des militaires et des manifestants sur la place Tahrir au Caire, mais des militants ont appelé à de nouveaux rassemblements samedi pour dénoncer ces violences.

Peu après minuit vendredi soir, la police militaire a encerclé quelques centaines de manifestants et les ont battus à coups de matraques et d'armes à électrochocs de type Taser pour les disperser, selon un responsable de sécurité et des témoins.

Dans la journée, plusieurs milliers d'Égyptiens s'étaient rassemblés sur la place symbole de la lutte contre l'ancien président Hosni Moubarak pour célébrer la "révolution" et réclamer un nouveau gouvernement composé de technocrates. "Ce qui s'est passé vendredi soir était le résultat de confrontations non intentionnelles entre la police militaire et les jeunes de la révolution", a déclaré le Conseil suprême des forces armées, en charge du pays depuis la chute de M. Moubarak le 11 février. Le Conseil "n'a pas et ne va pas donner l'ordre d'attaquer la jeunesse, et des mesures vont être prises pour garantir que cela ne se reproduise plus", a-t-il ajouté.

Mais des militants ont lancé un appel à de nouvelles manifestations samedi pour dénoncer l'usage de la force la veille. "Des manifestants pacifiques sur la place Tahrir ont été dispersés par la police militaire avec des Taser, des matraques et des fouets. Des hommes masqués armés de fusils automatiques ont essayé de faire taire la protestation par la force. Beaucoup ont été battus, agressés et arrêtés", ont-ils dénoncé dans un communiqué publié sur Facebook. "Nous ne pouvons pas accepter cela. Nous devons réagir face à la violence envers des manifestants pacifiques", ont-ils ajouté.

Leur presse (Agence Faut Payer), 26 février 2011.

Egypt's protest dispersed by force

Army uses batons to break up demonstrations in Cairo demanding purging of Mubarak loyalists from government.

The Egyptian army has used force to disperse activists gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand the removal of Hosni Mubarak loyalists from the interim cabinet.

Egyptian soldiers fired in the air and used batons in the early hours of Saturday to disperse the crowd, the Reuters news agency reported.

Demonstrators had also gathered in front of the parliament building in Cairo, where police beat protesters and used tasers to suppress the crowds, an Al Jazeera producer in the capital reported.

The people had gathered to celebrate two weeks since the removal of Mubarak from power and remind the country's new rulers of their promise to guard against a "counter-revolution" of the people's power.

Activists urged the military, who had promised there would be "no return to the past" of the Mubarak era, to overhaul the cabinet.

But after midnight, protesters said the military fired in the air, shut off lamp posts and moved in on protesters to force them to leave the square.

"Military police used batons and tasers to hit the protesters," Ahmed Bahgat, one of the protesters, told the Reuters news agency by telephone. "The military is once again using force. But the protesters have not responded."

Protesters left the main centre but many had gathered in surrounding streets, another protester, Mohamed Emad, said.

Witnesses said they saw several protesters fall to the ground but it was not clear if they were wounded or how seriously.

"I am one of thousands of people who stood their ground after the army started dispersing the protesters, shooting live bullets into the air to scare them," Ashraf Omar, a protester, said.

Black masks

The army officers who moved in on protesters in Tahrir, donned black masks to cover their faces to avoid being identified by protesters, Omar said.

Military buses were parked in the square to take in protesters that were caught, Mohamed Aswany, one protester who had decided to stage a sit-in, told Reuters by telephone.

Protesters were heard yelling and shouting as they were chased down side streets to Tahrir.

"It is a cat-and-mouse chase between the army and the people," Omar said. "There is no more unity between the people and the army."

"They were using tasers and sticks to beat us without any control. I thought things would change. I wanted to give the government a chance but there is no hope with this regime," Omar said.

"There is no use. I am back on the street. I either live with dignity or I die here."

Protesters say they want the resignation of the government of Ahmed Shafiq, the immediate release of political prisoners and the issuing of a general amnesty.

Leur presse (Al Jazeera), 26 février.