When Egypt’s military turned against its own

It was a scene reminiscent of the days in Cairo: Unarmed civilians scampering for the lives, others brutally beaten and some dragged along the streets. Then there was use of rubber bullets and live ammunition against protesters.

Unlike in the past, the this round of crackdown on the protesters was undertaken by the Egyptian Army, not the police.

But when the country’s newly installed Prime Minister Mustafa ElGanzoury, a former minister during Mubarak’s reign, went on TV, he was quick to deny that his security forces were using excess force. Pictures, live news feeds and online videos making the rounds painted a different reality.

So far, ten of the demonstrators are reported to have died from the clashes and more than 400 others injured. Among the dead is Emad Effat, a senior official at the country’s Dar al-Ifta, a religious body that issues Islamic fatwas (edicts). At his funeral, angry mourners chanted “down with military rule.”

A related video released online features a veiled girl being dragged along the streets of Cairo by soldiers, exposing her nakedness. As if that is not enough humiliation, there are overzealous soldiers beating her with clubs; ruthlessly kicking her abdomen and chest.

From another corner was a group of other soldiers on the roof of the parliament building that hurled concrete and rocks at the activists below them and set fire on protester's tents. According to witnesses, several of the protesters arrested were beaten, treated to electric shocks and detained.

This is one of the harsh portrayal of the action by the ruling SCAF (Supreme Council of Armed Forces). The protesters form a group of activists that have been camping in front of the country's parliament building to pressure the military elite to cede power to a civilian government.

Going forward

Coming at the end of the second round of the country's parliamentary elections, the latest clashes demonstrates the division among the Egyptian people: One one camp is a group that see the SCAF as the only entity can be trusted to rule during the country's transitional period then there is another that see the military as a power hungry bunch keen on extending the mandate through all means.

Some analysts have described the latest development as sign of the confidence the ruling generals have in Egyptians following the two rounds of relatively fair parliament elections, and that whoever emerges as the winner will work with them.