Thick clouds of tear gas filled the air on Sunday as military police armed with batons and shields charged into the square, firing rubber bullets and forcibly clearing the area of protesters. The assault sparked panic among the estimated 5,000 protesters, many of whom had remained in Tahrir since early on Saturday.
A short time affter the offensive, however, a surge of protesters returned to the square, overwhelming security forces and retaking the area.
“This is what the Egyptian army calls protecting the revolution,” Salma Said, a democracy activist, told Al Jazeera. “We’ve lost so many people in the last nine months. We want Field Marshall Tantawi gone. We’re going to keep fighting, we don’t have any other options.”
Before the protesters regrouped in the plaza, military police torched tents in the middle of the square, and witnesses reported security forces burning protesters’ motorcycles and other belongings.
When security forces arrived, hundreds of people fled into the many alleyways surrounding the square, banging on the doors of nearby hotels and apartments in a bid to seek shelter from the ensuing security forces.
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