JOIN USSeveral thousand Egyptians rallied in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Friday to denounce violence against protesters, especially outraged by images of women protesters dragged by their hair, beaten and kicked by troops.
The rally marked a week after deadly clashes erupted near Tahrir Square between protesters and the military, which took power after longtime president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising in February. Seventeen protesters were killed over the past week.
Last week’s violence erupted when military forces guarding the cabinet building near the square tried to forcibly disperse a three-week-old sit-in demanding that the ruling generals hand over power to a civilian authority.
During the clashes, both sides threw firebombs, and several buildings were burned. At least 100 people have been killed in such confrontations and in sectarian violence since the military took power.
Friday’s protest, named “Regaining honor and defending the revolution”, was backed by more than two dozen groups, among them newly formed political parties born out of the uprising.
After the Friday prayers, worshippers began a march to Tahrir Square to join the rally. Among the dead in last week’s violence was 52-year-old Sheik Emad Effat from the Al-Azhar mosque.
A competing rally of several hundred people gathered in support of the military in another part of Cairo on Friday.
Many Egyptians who back the military were outraged over pictures of soldiers stripping a woman half-naked while dragging her in the street during the crackdown this past week.