Clashes between police and protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square erupted for a third day Monday while the death toll rose to 33, amid fears Egypt’s first vote since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak could be at risk.Al Masry al Youm adds:
Police and military forces sporadically used batons, tear gas and birdshots to try to clear the central square of thousands of protesters demanding that the ruling military cede power to a civilian authority.
Egyptian medical sources said 33 people had died since clashes broke out on Saturday, kicking off a brutal countdown to the country’s Nov. 28 parliamentary elections, the first since the end of Mubarak’s 30-year-rule.
With just a week before voting in the first free parliamentary election in decades, the confrontations in the capital and other cities raised worries about how smooth voting will be.
Protesters camped out for a third night on Monday in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 28-day uprising that ended Mubarak’s rule, Reuters reported.
Egypt’s culture minister resigned in protest at the government response to the demonstrations, the official MENA agency said on Monday.
A YouTube video clip showed a security officer shooting demonstrators in Tahrir Square amid praises from his colleagues. The clip received more than 70,000 views.Here's one video of police beating and apparently shooting demonstrators in Tahrir Square this weekend.
“An officer who shoots people in the eyes is continuing practices of the former regime,” said professor of psychiatry at Al-Azhar University Hashem Bahary, explaining that a man’s personality is the result of past and present experiences. “Those officers should have been rehabilitated.”
UPDATE: Al Masry Al Youm reports:
Ambassador Mohammad Hejazi, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the government submitted its resignation to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, on Monday, and it is in permanent session since yesterday to follow up the events of Tahrir Square.