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May 4th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Egyptian forces have fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters in Cairo’s Abbasiya Square. Witnesses report gunfire was heard. The country’s Health Ministry says 59 people have been wounded, but some reports put the number at over 100.
In the face of the insurgency, Egypt’s Military Council has imposed a curfew in the central Cairo neighborhood of Abbasiya from 11pm Friday to 7am Saturday local time.
Al Arabiya says at least 100 people have been injured in the square near Egypt’s Ministry of Defense. Some reports suggest that one person has been killed, but the Health Ministry denies any deaths.
Troops have managed to push the protesters away from the Ministry of Defense, Al Arabiya reports. Witnesses confirm that the protesters have retreated from the square to nearby streets.
“Military completely clears sit-in with tear gas and attacks. Sound of gunfire fills air. Crowd runs into streets of Abbasiya,” says @sharifkouddous.
Heavy gunfire could be heard from the Abbasiya neighborhood, AFP reports.
Twitter users confirm the use of guns and say there is complete chaos in the streets of Cairo: “Panicked stampedes running thru streets. Sounds of gunfire everywhere, from every direction. Complete chaos,” writes @liamstack.
Thousands of Egyptians protested on Friday demanding the Military Council hand over power to civilians. The crowd attempted to reach the Ministry of Defense in Cairo, but was stopped by the Egypt security forces’ water cannons. Protesters responded with stones as the clashes began. Local TV showed troops beating one protester with metal sticks, tearing his clothes and leaving his back bloodied.
Egypt is seeing a marked escalation of violence ahead of the presidential elections later this month. At least 20 people have been killed and over 100 wounded after an armed group of unknown attackers opened fire at peaceful protesters near the Ministry of Defense on Wednesday.
The armed forces intensified their presence near the ministry after the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces warned Egyptians on Thursday to stay away from the military facilities and protest in Tahrir Square instead.
The SCAF has pledged to transfer power on May 24 if one of the 13 candidates wins in the first round of the presidential election.
The anger against the SCAF generals is rising and more people are joining the protest movement, Sabry Khaled, a revolutionary social activist, told RT. He believes that the response of the security forces to a peaceful sit-in shows that the SCAF generals are afraid that a civilian government, when elected, will not give them a “safe exit” from power.
RT: Almost monthly we see the same succession of events: protests-violence-deaths, yet a parliamentary election’s been held, a presidential one is weeks away. Who is behind the conflict-driven impatience do you think? What is driving it?
Sabry Khaled: It is clear that the SCAF do not want to hand power to a civilian government or a civilian president who will not give them a safe exit. They are afraid and the people know that they are afraid. People in the streets now do not want a safe exit for the SCAF. The whole thing now started by a peaceful protest, and then they [the security forces] just attacked peaceful people who were having a sit-in near the Ministry of Defense.
The combination of the people now in the protest is a little bit different than before. Before most of them were just civil movements but now more Islamists are joining the protests. And this will show us how the allies of the SCAF just after the revolution now are turning on them.
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Twitter @sharifkouddous
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