The Egyptian military is denying charges of brutalizing civilians. The Daily Mail webpage features video of the Egyptian military dragging and beating a woman — a video that had over 2 million views on YouTube.

The video, “Martyrs of the Egyptian Revolution,” just had English subtitles added.

JIHAN HAFIZ, fahema22 at gmail.com
REED LINDSAY, reedlindsay at yahoo.com
Hafiz and Lindsay are Cairo correspondents for The Real News Network. The Egyptian military is reportedly targeting media and Lindsay was hit with a rock and had six stitches in recent attacks. See Hafiz’s most recent report, “Battle Rages in Cairo as ‘Thugs’ and Army Attack Protesters.”

Hafiz said today: “The military council’s recent denial of brutalizing its people, one month after 40 Egyptians were killed in violence, has enraged the people still fighting government forces in Tahrir. The protesters’ ultimate goal remains the removal of what they call a fascist and violent regime.

“The first press conference by the military junta since fighting broke out Thursday evening was shocking on a number of levels. The general told the media no live ammunition was used, called the demonstrators counter-revolutionaries and said journalists were not attacked and arrested by the army. The integration video of beaten-up teenage protesters was broadcast on state TV during the press conference. In what seemed like forced confessions, the teenage boys said they were given money by an underground network to vandalize government buildings and attack the army. The junta’s spokesman kept to the government line of external forces and inflammatory media propaganda being the reason for the violence, calling protesters drug-abusing thugs.

“Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters remain in Tahrir, defiant in the face another violent attack. Activists and medics report government spies roaming around people organizing and random arrests in the surrounding downtown area.”

SHERIF GABER,  sgaber at gmail.com
Gaber recently graduated from law school at the University of Texas at Austin and, back in his native Egypt, has been active with the group No Military Trials for Civilians. He said today: “It’s primarily the army that’s doing the attacking, though the police forces have joined in some recent attacks. Some are saying that it’s the army verses parliament, but many of the protesters see the parliament as an extension of the military rule. There’s been a totally unwarranted amount of violence against demonstrators and their occupied spaces. The military has given a complete denial of any wrongdoing, contradicting every fact, every video that’s out there. There are paid thugs from the regime beating people, it’s beginning to smell a lot like fascism. The regime put up four concrete walls in Cairo…” Gaber was recently featured in the IPA news release “Egypt: U.S. Backing ‘Counter-Revolution.'”

Also see the videos:
Testimony of Aboudi, the young man who was viciously beaten by the army on Dec. 16, sparking the violence that followed.

Interview with protester Ismail, who works in a pharmaceutical company, with English subtitles.