Egyptian tanks move in as Cairo protests turn bloody

Their gathering was shot through with bitterness at the jeers hurled against the 82-yearold Mubarak over the past days.“I feel humiliated,” said Muhammad Hussein, a 31-yearold factory worker. “He is the symbol of our country. When he is insulted, I am insulted.”Having the rival sides on the streets is particularly worrying because there do not appear to be anywhere near enough police or military to control resurgent violence. The anti- Mubarak movement has vowed to intensify protests to force him out by Friday.Suleiman calls on "youth to heed the armed forces"In the evening, state TV said Vice President Omar Suleiman called “on the youth to heed the armed forces’ call and return home to restore order.”From the other side, senior anti-Mubarak figure Mohamed ElBaradei demanded that the military “intervene immediately and decisively to stop this massacre.”British Prime Minister David Cameron said Egyptian authorities must accelerate their political reforms and that “if it turns out that the regime in any way has been sponsoring or tolerating this violence, that would be completely and utterly unacceptable.”UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon, meeting Cameron in London, also condemned the violence as “unacceptable.”German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the assault on the protesters “raises the urgent question whether the political leaders of Egypt understand the need for rapid democratic reform.”The violence began after nearly 10,000 anti-government protesters massed again in Tahrir on Wednesday morning, rejecting Mubarak’s speech as too little, too late, and renewing their demands he leave immediately.The rally was peaceful, but Mubarak supporters began to gather at the edges of the square, and protesters formed a human chain to keep them out.In the early afternoon, around 3,000 pro-government demonstrators broke through and surged among the protesters, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.They tore down banners denouncing the president, fistfights broke out, and protesters grabbed Mubarak posters from the hands of the supporters and ripped them to pieces.

Street battles eruptFrom there, it escalated into outright street battles as hundreds poured in to join each side.At one point, a small contingent of pro-Mubarak forces on horseback and camels rushed into the anti-Mubarak crowds, trampling several and swinging whips and sticks. Protesters dragged some from their mounts, throwing them to the ground and beating their faces bloody. The horses and camels appeared to be ones used by the many touts around Cairo who sell rides for tourists.The battle lines at each of the six entrances surged back and forth repeatedly for hours. Each side’s fighters stretched across the width of the four-lane divided boulevard, hiding behind abandoned trucks and holding sheets of corrugated metal as shields from the hail of stones.At the heart of the square, young men with microphones sought to keep up morale.“Young people, head to the entrances,” said one. “Stand fast, reinforcements are on the way. Youth of Egypt, be brave.”Groups of men in the beards of conservative Muslims lined up to recite prayers before taking their turn in the line of fire.Women and men stood back with water, medical cotton and bandages ready as each wave returned, some with bloodied faces or shirts. Scores of wounded were carried to a makeshift clinic at a mosque near the square and on other side streets, staffed by doctors in white coats. One man with blood coming out of his eye stumbled into a side-street clinic.As night fell, some protesters went to get food, a sign they plan to dig in for a long siege.Hundreds more people from the impoverished Shubra district showed up later as reinforcements.Most of the army troops who have been guarding the square took shelter behind or inside the armored vehicles and tanks stationed at the entrances to the square.“Why don’t you protect us?” some shouted at soldiers, who replied they did not have orders to do so and told people to go home.“The army is neglectful. They let them in,” said Emad Nafa, a 52-year-old among the protesters, who for days had showered the military with love for its neutral stance.The new tensions began to emerge immediately following Mubarak’s speech on Tuesday night. Later in the night, clashes erupted between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Alexandria, while in Cairo groups of Mubarak supporters took to the streets, some carrying knives and sticks.Gatherings of Mubarak supporters were more hostile to journalists and foreigners. Two AP correspondents and several other journalists were roughed up during various such gatherings.State TV reported on Tuesday night that foreigners were caught distributing anti- Mubarak leaflets, apparently trying to depict the movement as foreign-fueled.The violence could represent a dangerous new chapter after a series of dramatic and unpredictable twists in Egypt’s upheaval.Wednesday’s events suggest the regime aims to put an end of the unrest to let Mubarak shape the transition as he chooses over the next months.As if to show the public the crisis was ending, the government began to reinstate Internet service after days of an unprecedented cutoff. State TV announced the easing of a nighttime curfew, which now runs from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. instead of 3 p.m. to 8 a.m.Mubarak supporters were on the street in significant numbers for the first time on Wednesday.Across the Nile River from the chaos in Tahrir Square, around 20,000 pro-government demonstrators held a rally in front of Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in the upper-class neighborhood of Mohandiseen, after notices on state TV calling for attendance.They waved Egyptian flags, their faces painted with the black-white-and-red national colors, and carried a large printed banner with Mubarak’s face as police officers surrounded the area and directed traffic.