Cairo’s Tahrir Square is once again the scene of intense demonstrations, with hundreds, if not thousands, of Egyptians protesting the slow pace of reforms under the military transitional government. In response, the Egyptian army and police sent in armored police carriers and used tear gas, truncheons, and rubber bullets to quell the unrest, now in its second day. (An AP reporter on the ground in Cairo witnessed doctors “removing a pellet from the back of a protester in the floor of field clinic. He was in agony.”) So far, the AP is reporting that three men have been killed, and though the government seems to have successfully cleared out Tahrir Square, a standoff is currently still under way by the Interior Ministry building. The ruling military council and cabinet, clearly rattled by the rising tensions on the streets, held an emergency meeting today, where they insisted that parliamentary elections would continue as planned next week.
