“

President Hosni Mubarak struck back at his opponents on Wednesday, unleashing waves of his supporters armed with clubs, rocks, knives and firebombs in a concerted assault on thousands of anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square calling for an end to his authoritarian rule.

Early Thursday morning, shots were fired at the anti-Mubarak protesters, a number of witnesses said. It was unclear whether the shots came from the pro-government demonstrators or from the military forces stationed in the square.

Two people were killed by the gunfire and 45 people were injured, said a doctor in a nearby emergency clinic set up by the anti-government demonstrators. After the gunshots, soldiers fired their weapons into the air, temporarily scattering most of the people still in the square.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the protesters, after first trying to respond peacefully to the Mubarak supporters, fought back with rocks and firebombs of their own. Scores of the wounded were carried back on cardboard stretchers to the makeshift clinic set up in a nearby mosque, where they were treated by dozens of doctors.

By 9 p.m on Wednesday., government officials said, about 600 people had been injured and three killed in the day’s battles; more than 150 people have died in the week of violence, human rights groups say.

”

The New York Times.

Al Jazeera is reporting four dead.

(via inothernews)

(via inothernews)