Demonstrators clash with Army over “Green Square”

Stones clashes between army forces and demonstrators in the "circular garden" in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Cairo – Akram Ali Tahrir Square witnessed late Wednesday night clashes between a number of demonstrators and the army and Central Security forces, where demonstrators tried to storm the "Green Square" locatedmid-field in the Square, which was surrounded by a large number of members of the Central Security forces to prevent any attempt of sit-ins. The clashes continued on until the early hours of Thursday morning. The security forces did however regain control of the Green Square and especially the “Green Square” and all roads leading to it. Witnesses told Arabstoday that a number of demonstrators last night threw rocks at security forces surrounding the “Green Square” causing clashes between them; military and security forces attacked demonstrators with batons in return. Security forces regained control of the situation quickly after. Demonstrators consider the “Green Square” battle a symbolic one, as for the whole of Ramadan and up until to Eid prayers, civilian presence in the Green Square has become a real battle especially after the mass breakfast incident last month, and the Sufis Friday, where large numbers of army and police occupied and took control of the Green Square and prevented demonstrators from reaching it, to prevent any further sit-in. witnesses added that protestors were marching in a mass march holding up Egypt flags while chanting “We must take over the Green Square… We must take over the Green Square.” One of the demonstrators described the security forces’ control of the Green Square as “strange and unexplainable,” adding that thousands prayed in the Green Square without being able to access the “Green Square,” which he also described as “very strange.”