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Cairo, February 7, 2012 (AFP)
Egypt’s interior minister denied on Tuesday that police had fired birdshot at protesters in deadly clashes last week between security and demonstrators, despite testimonies from medics and witnesses.
At least 15 people have been killed in Cairo and the canal city of Suez since violence erupted near the interior ministry on Thursday sparked by deadly football-related clashes, the health ministry said.
“We only used gas (tear gas) … There was only gas fired,” Mohammed Ibrahim told parliament.
“Our forces were hit by birdshot; one general lost an eye,” Ibrahim said.
The minister’s comments came after a fact-finding parliamentary commission called on the assembly to withdraw confidence from him.
The panel said Ibrahim bore “full responsibility” for the death of protesters, calling on demonstrators to express themselves peacefully, to withdraw from the outskirts of the interior ministry and return to Tahrir Square — the epicentre of protests.
On Tuesday, opthalmologists “Eye Doctors for the Revolution” said that between Thursday and Sunday hospitals in Cairo had received patients with eye injuries caused by birdshot of different types and different sizes.”
“At least 50 of these cases caused permanent vision loss,” a statement said.
On Monday, speaker Saad al-Katatni said the interior minister told him police had not used birdshot on protesters, prompting liberal MP Mohammed Abu Hamed to stand up and hold up a birdshot cartridge he says he had just picked up in the area.
By Tuesday, calm had returned to the interior ministry area, just blocks away from Tahrir Square.
The unrest erupted on Thursday in response to the deaths of 74 people in clashes after a football match in the northern city of Port Said.
Activists and commentators took to the streets to denounce what they said was the failure of authorities to prevent the violence.
