Clashes in and around Tahrir have been going on uninterrupted since Friday night. Security forces are making extensive use of rubber bullets, tear gas canisters and live ammunition, beating up protesters who end up isolated from the mass.
Protesters in the square show shotgun cartridges to the cameras.
CNN Ben Wedeman posts proof that some of the shotgun cartridges come from Italian weapons manufacturers.
Others post photos of tear gas canisters manufactured in the US
One source reports that the tear gas used by the Egyptian security forces was listed as a restricted substance under the Paris Convention on Chemical Warfare of 1993, and eventually was banned altogether. In the meantime, activists organise volunteers to walk around Tahrir washing the chemicals out of protesters’ eyes. Twitterers seem to agree the best home made remedy to the teargas fumes is a solution made of 95% water and 5% of baking soda. Journalist and blogger Hossam El Hamalawy, interviewed by Al Jazeera English, says activists are organising a general strike to bring down the rule of Mubarak’s generals.
And in the meantime everyone gears up for the big demonstration called for tomorrow by the Revolutionary Youth Coalition and 37 other political parties and movements.
egyptialise.me 
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