For hours now Down town Cairo is being on alert as there are reportedly clashes between the people and the police force at the Azbakia police station. Traffic is paralyzed in certain areas in Cairo. Ramsis street traffic was halted for hours and it was diverted to Gomhouria street. It was dangerous , chaotic and alarming scene there. Too many contradicting news. There are reportedly injured in the clashes , the primary estimations speak at least about 20 injured in the first hours.
Now at least there is one dead but he was not dead because of the clashes , in fact he was the reason of why the clashes started and his name was Mohamed Sabah Said. “May Allah bless his soul”
There are two versions of the story ,one that is adopted by the MOI and the mainstream media and another one that is adopted by the activists and also many internet users in Egypt. Nobody knows for sure which one is correct but old experience makes me doubt any official statement from MOI especially concerning Police torture and brutality. It is worth to mention this is the third incident from that kind where police is accused of torture till death in just one week after February 11,2011 !!!!!!!!!!!!!
The MOI version claims that microbus driver Mohamed Sabah broke the traffic laws in the area and when the police station’s sheriff went to speak to him, to show him his mistake , he insulted him badly. The citizens standing there could not tolerate this verbal attack and decided to teach that rude driver a lesson he would not forget. They beat the driver after being arrested and in his way to the prosecution office. Due to the severe beating he fainted and the sheriff had to transfer him to El Damrdsh public hospital where he died !! The driver turned to have a criminal sheet and the prosecution has ordered opened an investigation and interrogated 5 witnesses.
Already why did not the sheriff save him from this anger mob !? This is against article no.289 from the criminal law.
Now the second version , the family of the late driver and several eyewitnesses support : Now the sheriff wanted the driver to show his driving license and id but the driver refused thus the sheriff slapped him. In return the driver left the bus and started a fight with the sheriff , the sheriff and his men allegedly beat the crap out of the driver and then dragged him to the police station. Allegedly at the police station the driver was tortured and electrified till death. According to his family that received his dead body from Zanhom morgue , his body was blue with marks of beatings and burns.
It is worth to mention that some eye witnesses say that the driver slapped the officer first while others claim there was a verbal fight between the two at first that developed in to a physical one. Still those eye witnesses all agree that Sabah went to the police station and came out of it as a dead man.
We know that the microbus drivers are not the most kindest or sweetest or the politest drivers in Cairo but why you slap a person on his face , is this in the law !? Or if the driver did slap the officer on his face , is that enough reason to be allegedly tortured and killed !?
Now the police denies that Sabah died inside the police station despite you got websites like Al Ahram portal and Al Masry Al Youm said that he died at the police station. “I do not know if they changed it or not”
Now the family of Sabah and his friends came and surrounded the police station demanding justice and things developed from bad to worse to worst. The protesters and the police force at the station began to hurl stones at each others then thugs came with their Molotov cocktails and knives thus turning it in to a true violent chaotic scene. Some say that these were thugs hired by the station while others say that they were thugs who came to get their friends out of detention !!!!!
The military police came to the area in order to protect the police station along with center security forces “CSF". Lt.General Hamdy Badeen was reportedly there according to blogger Hossam Hamalawy who was tweeting from there.
Hossam saw a CSF vehicle set on fire by the people there.
The military police vehicles came and fired shots in the air according to eye witnesses to disperse this scene , then the CSF arrived and began to fire tear gas grenades.
Gigi Ibrahim took the photo of the military police vehicle showing at the police station.
The shops owners were alarmed and feared on their shops , they brought sticks and stood protecting them. Some shopkeepers closed the shops and left the place like many who thought it was getting from bad to worse.
The Azabakia police station has not been torched tonight as the media claimed , it was actually torched on January 28th by the protesters due to its bad record in human rights in Cairo.
I do not know how the situation has gone so far except Sheikh Safwat Hegazy came to the scene to calm down the protesters and ask them to leave !!
By the way the Cairo security directorate accused 6th April youth of staging the protest at the station !!!!!!! Now 6th April youth has nothing to do with this from near or far. Of course some activists came from Tahrir square to protest shortly at Ramsis street.
Now we got two cases : Alleged torture case and thuggery case and strangely they are both connected to law and order.
This is just pre-January 25 !!
The story is developing.
Here is a good video report from El Wafd portal , from the protests at night.
Now Sabah's cousin told Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr and said that the Copt hospital refused to receive the dead body of Sabah because he was dead. He also said that they went to protest at the MOI where they received politely and were promised that the case will be investigated.
And the Sheriff also spoke to Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr
Ok with my all due respect I do not believe for one second that the sheriff spoke that politely with the driver , this is impossible , truly impossible.
Now here is a video filmed at 11.30 PM showing protesters chanting anti-police chants
Here is another video at 12 AM people are speaking about versions.
Here is a video from Halal hospital where the injured kept. It seems that their families tried to get in to the hospital angrily and there was chaos.
Amazingly no video has surfaced from the fight to enforce any of the two versions up till now.
Now at least there is one dead but he was not dead because of the clashes , in fact he was the reason of why the clashes started and his name was Mohamed Sabah Said. “May Allah bless his soul”
There are two versions of the story ,one that is adopted by the MOI and the mainstream media and another one that is adopted by the activists and also many internet users in Egypt. Nobody knows for sure which one is correct but old experience makes me doubt any official statement from MOI especially concerning Police torture and brutality. It is worth to mention this is the third incident from that kind where police is accused of torture till death in just one week after February 11,2011 !!!!!!!!!!!!!
The MOI version claims that microbus driver Mohamed Sabah broke the traffic laws in the area and when the police station’s sheriff went to speak to him, to show him his mistake , he insulted him badly. The citizens standing there could not tolerate this verbal attack and decided to teach that rude driver a lesson he would not forget. They beat the driver after being arrested and in his way to the prosecution office. Due to the severe beating he fainted and the sheriff had to transfer him to El Damrdsh public hospital where he died !! The driver turned to have a criminal sheet and the prosecution has ordered opened an investigation and interrogated 5 witnesses.
Already why did not the sheriff save him from this anger mob !? This is against article no.289 from the criminal law.
Now the second version , the family of the late driver and several eyewitnesses support : Now the sheriff wanted the driver to show his driving license and id but the driver refused thus the sheriff slapped him. In return the driver left the bus and started a fight with the sheriff , the sheriff and his men allegedly beat the crap out of the driver and then dragged him to the police station. Allegedly at the police station the driver was tortured and electrified till death. According to his family that received his dead body from Zanhom morgue , his body was blue with marks of beatings and burns.
It is worth to mention that some eye witnesses say that the driver slapped the officer first while others claim there was a verbal fight between the two at first that developed in to a physical one. Still those eye witnesses all agree that Sabah went to the police station and came out of it as a dead man.
We know that the microbus drivers are not the most kindest or sweetest or the politest drivers in Cairo but why you slap a person on his face , is this in the law !? Or if the driver did slap the officer on his face , is that enough reason to be allegedly tortured and killed !?
Now the police denies that Sabah died inside the police station despite you got websites like Al Ahram portal and Al Masry Al Youm said that he died at the police station. “I do not know if they changed it or not”
Now the family of Sabah and his friends came and surrounded the police station demanding justice and things developed from bad to worse to worst. The protesters and the police force at the station began to hurl stones at each others then thugs came with their Molotov cocktails and knives thus turning it in to a true violent chaotic scene. Some say that these were thugs hired by the station while others say that they were thugs who came to get their friends out of detention !!!!!
The military police came to the area in order to protect the police station along with center security forces “CSF". Lt.General Hamdy Badeen was reportedly there according to blogger Hossam Hamalawy who was tweeting from there.
Hossam saw a CSF vehicle set on fire by the people there.
Burning down a CSF vehicle in Ramsis
Gigi Ibrahim took the photo of the military police vehicle showing at the police station.
The shops owners were alarmed and feared on their shops , they brought sticks and stood protecting them. Some shopkeepers closed the shops and left the place like many who thought it was getting from bad to worse.
The Azabakia police station has not been torched tonight as the media claimed , it was actually torched on January 28th by the protesters due to its bad record in human rights in Cairo.
I do not know how the situation has gone so far except Sheikh Safwat Hegazy came to the scene to calm down the protesters and ask them to leave !!
By the way the Cairo security directorate accused 6th April youth of staging the protest at the station !!!!!!! Now 6th April youth has nothing to do with this from near or far. Of course some activists came from Tahrir square to protest shortly at Ramsis street.
Now we got two cases : Alleged torture case and thuggery case and strangely they are both connected to law and order.
This is just pre-January 25 !!
The story is developing.
Update :
Videos began to appear.Here is a good video report from El Wafd portal , from the protests at night.
Now Sabah's cousin told Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr and said that the Copt hospital refused to receive the dead body of Sabah because he was dead. He also said that they went to protest at the MOI where they received politely and were promised that the case will be investigated.
And the Sheriff also spoke to Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr
Ok with my all due respect I do not believe for one second that the sheriff spoke that politely with the driver , this is impossible , truly impossible.
Now here is a video filmed at 11.30 PM showing protesters chanting anti-police chants
Here is another video at 12 AM people are speaking about versions.
Here is a video from Halal hospital where the injured kept. It seems that their families tried to get in to the hospital angrily and there was chaos.
Amazingly no video has surfaced from the fight to enforce any of the two versions up till now.