Egypt’s military, activists vie for support

Associated Press

CAIRO

Egypt’s ruling military and the revolutionaries who demand they immediately step down battled for a third day in the streets Sunday — and competed fiercely for the support of a broader public that has grown tired of turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago.

The generals appear to be winning the fight for the public, despite a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters around Cairo’s Tahrir Square using a roughness that rivaled even that of Mubarak’s widely hated police force.

A man died in police custody Sunday, and a lawyer said he was refused medical attention.

Before dawn today, security forces mounted a charge and cleared hundreds of demonstrators away from the area, according to videos posted on the Internet.

The protesters have tried to drum up Egyptians’ anger at the military by spreading videos and photos of military police savagely beating young men and women to the ground with sticks and truncheons — and the resonant scene of a woman in a conservative headscarf being stripped half naked by soldiers who stomp on her chest.

But so far, their efforts to win public sympathy don’t seem to be gaining traction in the face of the military’s campaign to depict the crowds of hundreds in the streets as hooligans and vandals, not the idealistic activists who succeeded in bringing down Mubarak.

At least 10 protesters have been killed and 441 others wounded in the three days of violence, according to the Health Ministry.