At least two people killed in pre-dawn raid on protesters calling for Mubarak to face trial and removal of army chief
Tahrir Square – which for 18 days was the centre of the Egyptian revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak — was occupied again on Friday by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians calling for Mubarak to be put on trial, and for the head of the army, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who is the titular head of state, to be removed.
Many demonstrators were demanding that the army council be replaced by a civilian one during a transitional period to democracy, accusing the military of protecting members of the former regime. The huge turnout followed growing fears that the revolution had been hijacked by the army.
Witnesses in the square said the raid was led by a mixture of army, police and internal security forces. About 300 soldiers swept into the square at around 3am, backed by 20-30 military trucks. Witnesses said firing continued in the square until around 5.30am on Saturday.
Although an army spokesman insisted that only "blanks", not live bullets, had been fired to warn protesters, images on social media websites appeared to show spent casings of both blank and live shells.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/09/egyptian-soldiers-tahrir-square-protesters
