Cairo's Tahrir Square grew calm Wednesday morning after clashes broke out the night before between protesters and a group of attackers, who used knives, other weapons and live ammunition to disrupt a protest march in the square.
After the clashes ended, protesters retook the square's central island and burned the tents where alleged thugs and street vendors had camped.
Demonstrators braced for new clashes Wednesday, some bearing clubs or forming human barriers at the square's Talaat Harb Street entrance to block potential attackers.
The fighting started when some people tried to mug activists during a march organized to denounce the prosecution of civilians in military courts.
A number of attackers had earlier overtaken protesters' tents and assaulted passers-by and shops, eyewitnesses said. Later that day, a number of shop owners and young residents from nearby Bab al-Louq attacked the thugs in the square's central island before burning the tents and forcing them out.
The unidentified assailants used Molotov cocktails, guns, knives and other weapons against the protesters, who hurled rocks back at them. Both sides sustained injuries. Talaat Harb shop owners closed their businesses and armed themselves with sticks.
The square has been the state for mass protests of various causes since demonstrations there last year forced former President Hosni Mubarak to resign within 18 days.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
