88 Egyptian Activists Injured in Tahrir

Cairo, nov 30. -At least 88 demonstrators, camped for 13 days in Tahrir Square, were injured in clashes with some street vendors, whose growing deployment at the square threatened to devalue their strike, several activists complained on Wednesday.Demonstrations took place last night in the street of the main entrance of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, apparently caused by several informal traders and their relatives unhappy with being evicted from the square.

According to medical sources quoted by the official news agency MENA, most of the 88 were injured by stones, beaten with sticks or in hand-to-hand fights, while some suffered burns caused by home-made bombs (Motolov cocktails).

"Many sellers were upset because we asked them to leave Tahrir Square, where their numbers were growing and they were selling all kinds of things", Tarek Ismail, one of the hundreds of young people in the square that demand that the Military Junta transfer power to a civilian authority, told Prensa Latina.

Prensa Latina verified the significant increase of hawkers selling processed food, cigarettes, hot tea, and other objects with the colors of the Egyptian flag.

Mohamed El-Said, member of the Youth Coalition protesting in Tahrir, told state channel Nile TV that hundreds of people threw Motolov cocktails in Abdel Moneim Riad street, but denied that demonstrators were involved.

The square of Cairo, center of the riots against Hosni Mubarak, maintained a relatively quiet atmosphere during the last two days, contrasting with the violence unleashed last week, which caused at least 42 dead and around 2,000 injured people as a result of police repression. (Prensa Latina)