CAIRO -- Thousands of supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak battled in Cairo's main square Wednesday, raining stones and bottles down on each other as gunshots rang in the air. In scenes of uncontrolled violence, government backers galloped in on horses and camels, only to be dragged to the ground by their rivals and beaten bloody.
The two sides faced off at a front line next to the famed Egyptian Museum at the edge of central Tahrir Square, where they crouched behind abandoned trucks, hurling chunks of concrete and bottles at each other. Government supporters waved machetes, and entire rooftoops of several nearby buildings were covered with their fighters, who hurled rocks, bricks and firebombs on the crowd below and tearing up satellite dishes to use as shields.
Bloodied anti-government protesters were taken to makeshift clinics in mosques and alleyways, and some pleaded for protection from soldiers stationed at the square, who refused. Though they occasionally fired warning shots in the air, the soldiers did nothing to stop the fighting.
The violence marked a dangerous new phase in Egypt's upheaval - the first significant violence between supporters of the two camps in more than a week of anti-government protests. It erupted after Mubarak went on national television the night before and rejected demands he step down immediately and said he would serve out the remaining seven months of his term.
A military spokesman appeared on state TV Wednesday and asked the protesters to disperse so life in Egypt could get back to normal. The announcement could mark a major turn in the attitude of the army, which for the past two days has allowed protests to swell, reaching their largest size yet on Tuesday when a quarter-million peacefully packed into Cairo's central Tahrir Square.
The regime for the first time began to rally supporters in significant numbers to demand an end to the unprecedented protest movement calling for Mubarak's removal. Some 20,000 pro-government demonstrators held an angry but peaceful rally across the Nile River from the violence, saying Mubarak's concessions were enough and demanding protests end.
Having the rival sides both on the streets is particularly worrying because there do not appear to be enough police or miliary on the streets to control the situation.
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Nearly 10,000 anti-government protesters massed again in Tahrir on Wednesday morning, rejecting Mubarak's speech as too little too late and renewing their demands he leave immediately.
The violence began in the early afternoon, when around 3,000 Mubarak supporters broke through a human chain of protesters trying to defend the thousands gathered in Tahrir, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. They tore down banners denouncing the president, fistfights broke out as protesters grabbed Mubarak posters from the hands of the supporters and ripped them to pieces.
From there, it escalated into outright street battles as hundreds poured in to join each side. They tore up stones from the sidewalks and from a nearby construction site and began hurling stones, chunks of concrete and sticks at each, chasing each other.
At one point, a small contingent of pro-Mubarak forces on horseback and camels rushed into the anti-Mubarak crowds, swinging whips and sticks to beat people. Protesters retaliated, dragging some from their mounts, throwing them to the ground and beating their faces bloody. The horses and camels likely were the ones used by touts giving rides for tourists.
Gunfire rang out occasionally as some soldiers fired in the air in half-hearted attempts to control the crowd. But fighting was unabated.
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