EGYPT’S INTERIM cabinet tendered its resignation yesterday as tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square to protest against violent clashes with security forces that left at least 33 dead and 1,800 wounded.
The protesters chanted “The people want the end of military rule” and “Down with the field marshal”, referring to Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council. A steady stream of ambulances, their sirens wailing, flowed into the square to ferry the wounded to hospitals. Scores of protesters suffered from tear-gas inhalation and wounds inflicted by rubber-coated steel balls, while other protesters were beaten to the ground by civil police and plain-clothes men wielding staves and clubs.
Cabinet spokesman Muhammad Hegazy announced that the government would continue in office for the time being “owing to the difficult circumstances the country is going through”. As on previous occasions, the ruling military council has refused to permit the cabinet, headed by Essam Sharaf, to stand down. The attacks, which began on Saturday morning, are the most violent since January 28th, the deadliest day of the uprising.
Protesters from all factions are now calling for the immediate transfer of power to a civilian council and a presidential election by April 2012.
The clashes escalated in the morning when civilian and military police fired clouds of particularly potent tear gas, with the aim of driving a few thousand protesters from the square. A few demonstrators responded by hurling petrol bombs as well as stones at the police. Protesters were incensed over reports from doctors in hospitals receiving the dead and wounded that live fire had been used on Sunday, an accusation the army denied.
The protests have halted campaigning for parliamentary elections set for next Monday, and a number of parliamentary candidates have withdrawn from the race.
Presidential hopefuls, including Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, have sharply criticised the military and the security apparatus.