Video shows Egyptian police beating naked protester
- 11 years ago
WARNING - VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
Disturbing video footage shows Egyptian security forces beating a naked protester outside Egypt's presidential palace in Cairo on Friday.
But here, in a police hospital, the man claims it wasn't the police who assaulted him - he says it was anti-government demonstrators.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 48-YEAR-OLD PROTESTER HAMADA SABER, SAYING:
"They took my clothes off", he says, "Maybe they were looking for money in my pockets. Then someone among them shouted 'he is not a soldier, he is an old man and you are going to kill him'. The soldiers ran towards me. I was afraid of them, but they were saying "We will not beat you".
But the video clearly contradicts his words, and many - including his own daughter - believe the statement may have been forced under police threats.
The incident comes after nearly 60 people have already been killed in over a week of violent clashes across Egypt.
It's is an unmistakable reminder of the beating of a woman by riot police in Tahrir Square in December 2011.
Images of her being dragged and stomped on became a rallying symbol for the revolution, and undermined the interim military rulers who held power between Hosni Mubarak's fall and President Mohamed Mursi's rise to power.
Disturbing video footage shows Egyptian security forces beating a naked protester outside Egypt's presidential palace in Cairo on Friday.
But here, in a police hospital, the man claims it wasn't the police who assaulted him - he says it was anti-government demonstrators.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 48-YEAR-OLD PROTESTER HAMADA SABER, SAYING:
"They took my clothes off", he says, "Maybe they were looking for money in my pockets. Then someone among them shouted 'he is not a soldier, he is an old man and you are going to kill him'. The soldiers ran towards me. I was afraid of them, but they were saying "We will not beat you".
But the video clearly contradicts his words, and many - including his own daughter - believe the statement may have been forced under police threats.
The incident comes after nearly 60 people have already been killed in over a week of violent clashes across Egypt.
It's is an unmistakable reminder of the beating of a woman by riot police in Tahrir Square in December 2011.
Images of her being dragged and stomped on became a rallying symbol for the revolution, and undermined the interim military rulers who held power between Hosni Mubarak's fall and President Mohamed Mursi's rise to power.