NCHR reveals videos of police abuses at Rabea

The National Council of Human Rights (NCHR) revealed videos showing police abuses during the dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in that it did not include in previous releases at a press conference Monday.

The NCHR had previously released several videos that showed protesters at the sit-in using weapons against security forces as they besieged the camp. 

At a previous press conference to present the council’s investigation into the deaths at Rabea, the authors blamed sit-in participants for the outbreak of violence.

According to their report, 624 civilians and eight policemen were killed during the dispersal.

Monday’s press conference showed multiple videos that had not been shown at the earlier presser. In addition to previous videos, that showed evidence of the use of arms and torture by sit-in participants, the NCHR showed videos of snipers shooting at demonstrators from the roof of a nearby military building, police officers abusing unarmed detainees and bulldozers running over the bodies of killed demonstrators.

Council members denied that the inclusion of the new videos was in response to criticism by at least two members that did not participate in the presentation of the findings.

Abdel Ghaffar Shokr singled out Mohamed Abdel Kouddous, saying that his withdrawal was “undemocratic.”

He also said that the variance in entry wounds of those killed and injured pointed to the likelihood that other groups fired on protesters.

Mada reporters at the scene during the dispersal said it was chaotic, with demonstrators running in all directions and fire coming from all directions.

The council placed some fault with the police for poor planning, not giving protesters enough time to evacuate the area and not securing a safe passage for them.