Fighting broke out between some demonstrators and passers-by in Tahrir Square Sunday afternoon, when protesters tried to prevent vehicles and pedestrians from passing through.
Security forces left Tahrir after storming it in the morning from the Corniche al-Nil side and removing protesters’ tents, leaving only tents built in the roundabout’s central island. Traffic in the square returned to normal after authorities opened it.
Clashes had earlier broken out between police and an unknown group of people who blocked the Corniche al-Nil in front of the Semiramis hotel and threw Molotov cocktails at security forces behind the concrete wall in front of the Shepheard Hotel. The group rushed into Tahrir after security forces chased them and arrested some of them.
The Interior Ministry’s media center said on Facebook Sunday evening that a group of people attacked the traffic officers in the square, using bladed weapons and sticks, and again closed the square to traffic.
The ministry said it instructed traffic officers to withdraw from the square to avoid escalating violence between police and protesters amid the state of political tension in the street.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
