Mass protests at Cairo, Tahrir Square

Once and still a major magnet for tourists visiting the Egyptian capital Cairo, Tahrir Square is once more the scene of mass protests. This toime the Egyptian police in Cairo have used water cannon and tear gas against hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the acquittal of former president Hosni Mubarak by the local court.

According to Reuters, security officers also used birdshot to disperse the crowd.

There are also unconfirmed reports that live fire might have been used, RT’s Bel Trew reported from the Egyptian capital.

The police, who earlier promised to refrain from violence, released a statement saying that the use of force was justified, as members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization have infiltrated the ranks of the demonstrators.

However, people in the streets told Trew that the attack by police was unprovoked.

Arrests among the demonstrators have been performed by security forces, with “some Egyptian journalists apparently among those detained,” Trew reported.

Around 1,000 demonstrators gathered on the road leading to Cairo’s Tahrir Square to rally against the Saturday court ruling, which found Mubarak not guilty of conspiring to kill hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising.

The protesters are chanting “Down with the military regime” and other slogans, condemning Mubarak and current Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi.

The iconic square, which gave birth to the Arab Spring, was blocked by security forces, who “bolstered their positions with concrete blocks, barbed wire and armored vehicles in anticipation of violence,” Trew reported.