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Anti-Mubarak protesters clash with police in Cairo

Egyptian riot policemen clash with pro-reform activists on Saturday, during a protest in Cairo against President Hosni Mubarak. The Arabic slogan reads ``No for Mubarak, 24 years of oppression.'' PHOTO: AP

Wielding bamboo batons and small leaded clubs, Egyptian security agents attacked and beat protesters on Saturday as they tried to rally in the central Tahrir Square here, chanting slogans calling for the end of Hosni Mubarak's 24-year-reign as president.

A contingent of several thousand black-uniformed riot police officers, with shields and batons, together with squads of plainclothes agents, each armed with a blackjack, cornered small groups of protesters and then beat them, often tearing their clothing, as commanding officers with stars on their shoulders shouted for the beatings to continue.

The crackdown on the protesters came just two days after Mubarak pledged his support for democracy and increased freedoms in a speech announcing his plans to seek a fifth term as president. Elections are scheduled for September.

Two leaders of the pro-democracy movement known as Kefaya, or "Enough," were among those arrested, but were later released. Police officers at the scene would not say how many people had been taken into custody. By late Saturday evening, about 300 protesters had gathered in front of the building that houses Egypt's journalists union and said they would demonstrate until those arrested were released.

"We say enough to Mubarak," said Adel Sayed, a chemistry professor at Cairo University who said he was alarmed when he saw a colleague from the university dragged off by the police. "He promised us democracy, no democracy. He promised us freedom of speech; you see we have no freedom. He promised us work. There are 9 million unemployed. So we say, enough."

It was unclear how many people had tried to take part in the protests. Security officers had occupied the square a good hour before the protest was to start and blocked many people from entering the area for the demonstration, which was scheduled to begin at 6pm.

Wael Khalil, an organizer of the protest, and about 20 others who were turned away from Tahrir began chanting, "Down, Down, Hosni Mubarak," as they ran through the center of a busy downtown street. A group of the riot police chased after them, surrounding the group and hitting demonstrators with bamboo poles.

The protesters broke out of the cordon, but the police tried to grab Khalil. They beat him until other protesters pulled him free. Moments later plainclothes agents surrounded Khalil and he was taken away.

A local journalist, Shaaban Abdel Remin el-Dabaa, collapsed on a car after being beaten. "People of Egypt, here is the terrorism," Safaa el-Moleihi, a colleague from the same newspaper, shouted as he waved his colleague's press card in the air.

As the journalist, with a small amount of blood on his shirt, lay across the car, a woman walked up to a line of security agents, men with clear plastic shields, black helmets and batons, and screamed, "You killed someone!"
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