Protest broken up ahead of Khaled Saeed trial

Security forces used tear gas to disperse a protest at the Alexandria court where the retrial of Khaled Saeed’s alleged murderers was held Monday, according to Nader al-Attar, an activist taking part in the protest.

Saeed was beaten to death in Alexandria in June 2010. His killing became a symbol of police brutality. In 2012, two policemen, Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud and Awad Ismail Suleiman, were found guilty of Saeed's murder and sentenced to seven years in prison. After filing an appeal, the two men are now facing a retrial.

Photographs of Saeed's disfigured face spread across social media. His death is credited by some with igniting the January 25, 2011 revolution. Saeed has been referred to as “the face that started a revolution.”

Attar told Mada Masr that five people were arrested. He said that security forces had moved to disperse the protesters, said to number around 400, as soon as they arrived in front of Alexandria’s Haqaniya Court around 11 am.

The protesters were forcing to relocate to the corniche, where they engaged in clashes with security forces. Attar said that police fired tear gas canisters directly at the protesters, rather than into the air, causing many to suffer breathing problems.

The corniche was blocked for one hour during the clashes, as security forces formed a security cordon, he said, adding that the situation had calmed down by midday, and traffic was flowing normally.

An Interior Ministry statement, however, claimed that demonstrators had blocked the roads and assaulted security forces, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported. The statement added that protesters ignored warnings to clear the area.