The public prosecution announced on Monday the start of investigations into 53 complaints filed over the clashes that took place in Tahrir Square on Friday.
The complaints accuse acting Freedom and Justice Party head Essam al-Erian, pro-Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazy, Mohamed al-Beltagy and other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood of mobilizing their supporters to use violence against peaceful demonstrators, leading to clashes, injuries and destruction of property.
“Prosecutors immediately asked the hospitals and the Department of Forensic Medicine to report the types and causes of the casualties,” said public prosecution spokesperson Adel al-Saeed a in a press release. “We are also hearing testimonies from eyewitnesses.”
“We have so far found out that the perpetrators used shotguns and bladed weapons to injure some 147 people,” Saeed added. “Some were shot in the eye, others suffered skull fractures or bruises.”
“Already three suspects were arrested and detained pending further investigation,” he said.
The public prosecutor has also officially requested the General Intelligence Services, the Military Intelligence and the Interior Ministry to submit footage from surveillance cameras around the Egyptian Museum and Tahrir Square.
The clashes took place on Friday during a demonstration that had mainly been called for by liberal forces to criticize President Mohamed Morsy’s performance in his first 100 days, but, liberal leaders say, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party called for their own protest against the public prosecutor in order to disrupt the planned demonstrations.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
