Egypt: Mubarak trial resumes amid high security

GlobalPost

The trial of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak resumed Wednesday, two days after violent clashes outside the courtroom between police and victims' families.

Four police officers are scheduled to testify in the trial against Mubarak and his sons, including one who did not finish his evidence on Monday, CNN reports.

Outside the courtroom, held in the police academy, security forces set up barricades and riot police surrounded the area to try and avoid the area descending into chaos again.

The 83-year old and ailing Mubarak was brought by a helicopter from a medical center where he is being detained during the proceedings and was rolled into the courtroom on a trolley bed, the Associated Press reports.

AP reports:

Security was exceptionally high Wednesday following three hours of overnight rioting by soccer fans in Cairo that left more than 100 people injured. Fourteen soccer fans were arrested in the riots.

Hundreds of security vehicles, armored cars, ambulances and firefighting trucks lined up the streets around the courthouse, and security forces surrounded the families of the victims who died during the uprising.

Few Mubarak supporters showed up for the session but the soccer fans were outside the court, shouting slogans against the security agencies, arguing with the security forces and warning of a "new revolution."

The uprising that toppled Mubarak was fueled large part by anger over years of rampant police abuse and brutality.

Mubarak faces the death penalty if convicted of charges that he ordered the killing of 850 protesters to quash the uprising in February that ended his 30-year rule.

A group of Kuwait lawyers are defending Mubarak and the families of those killed, according to Naser Al Hefi, the head of the Kuwaiti lawyers syndicate, CNN reports.

On Monday, a police official told the court that forces trying to clamp down on anti-government protests were told to use tear gas, not automatic weapons or live ammunition.

Two of the four people testifying changed their testimony in favor of Mubarak instead of siding with the families of those killed, CNN reports.

On Monday, when family members try to push past police to enter the site of the trial, they were beaten with batons. The family members threw rocks and guard railings at the officers.

At least 22 people were arrested, according to the Interior Ministry, and 14 police officers and 12 protesters were injured.

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.