Egypt Protests: Thousands Fill Streets To Protest Mubarak On 'Jan 25' (Pics & Videos)

Egypt Protests: Thousands Fill Streets To Protest Mubarak On 'Jan 25'
CAIRO (AP) -- Thousands of anti-government protesters, some hurling rocks and climbing atop an armored police truck, clashed with riot police Tuesday in the center of Cairo in a Tunisia-inspired demonstration to demand the end of Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30 years in power.

Police responded with blasts from water cannons and set upon crowds with batons and acrid clouds of tear gas to clear demonstrators crying out "Down with Mubarak" and demanding an end to Egypt's grinding poverty, corruption, unemployment and police abuses.

Tuesday's demonstration, the largest Egypt has seen for years, began peacefully, with police showing unusual restraint in what appeared to be a calculated strategy by the government to avoid further sullying the image of a security apparatus widely seen as little more than corrupt thugs in uniforms.With discontent growing over economic woes, and the toppling of Tunisia’s president still resonating in the region, Egypt’s government – which normally responds with swift retribution to any dissent – needed to tread carefully.



But as crowds filled downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square – waving Egyptian and Tunisian flags and adopting the same protest chants that rang out in the streets of Tunis – security personnel changed tactics and the protest turned violent.

The bus was taking a tour group on the 115 mile (185 kilometer) journey from Aswan to the ancient temples of Abu Simbel along Lake Nasser, when it ran into the truck carrying sand parked on the side of a single lane desert road, killing six women and two men.The Egyptian driver and a guide were also injured in the accident.Egyptian security officials said the hurt Americans were first transferred to a military hospital for treatment and then 10 of the injured, including two Egyptians, were airlifted to a hospital in Cairo.

Egypt Bus Crash Kills 8 Americans

Road accidents are common in Egypt because of bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic rules, and crashes involving tour groups are not uncommon.Last month, eight foreign tourists were killed when their tour bus lost control and flipped over several times on a winding mountain road near a resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast, while in October six Belgian tourists were killed in a crash in the south.

An estimated 8,000 people die in car accidents annually in Egypt.

Tweet

Share This Story to Your Friends ---

Egypt Protests: Thousands Fill Streets To Protest Mubarak On 'Jan 25' (Pics & Videos)