Pro-government demonstrators, below, and antigovernment demonstrators, above, clashed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Wednesday.
The political unrest gripping Cairo
turned ugly Wednesday, as groups of supporters of President Hosni
Mubarak charged antigovernment protesters in the city’s main square,
sparking bloody clashes.
WSJ’s Margaret Coker reports from Cairo
clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters are spreading
despite calls from the military for the protesters to disperse.
Conflicts escalated through the day as the
two groups faced off, chanting slogans at each other, fighting and
hurling missiles. Protesters at two entrances to Tahrir Square—by the
Egyptian Museum and the route from downtown Cairo—came under attack from
men heaving rocks and running into them with horses and camels.
The clashes, coming after Mr. Mubarak refused protesters’ demand that
he step down immediately but agreed to turn over power following
elections this fall, marked a dangerous new phase for the
confrontations. Earlier Wednesday, an army spokesman appeared on state
television to ask protesters to return home to help restore order.
Mubarak supporter Sayed Mohammed Sayed, 37 years old, said the
protesters have pushed things too far by refusing to back down even
after the president agreed to purs…