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Egypt’s Government Apologizes After a Beating Is Televised Egypt’s Government Apologizes After a Beating Is Televised
(about 5 hours later)
CAIRO — Egypt’s Interior Ministry issued a rare apology on Saturday, a day after a group of its officers were seen beating a naked man two blocks from the palace of President Mohamed Morsi, an episode captured by television cameras and broadcast live during clashes between protesters and riot police officers. CAIRO — Egypt’s interior minister offered a rare apology on Saturday after officers under his command were seen on television beating a naked man two blocks from the presidential palace. But under what his family said was police coercion, the victim, Hamada Saber, said in an interview later that the officers had been helping rather than attacking him.
In a statement, the ministry said it regretted the beating and called it an “individual attack” that did not reflect police doctrine. The police were performing their duties “with a new spirit” of Egypt’s revolution, the ministry said, adding that the beating would be investigated with “objectivity and transparency.” The spectacle of the beating quickly revived fury at Egypt’s police force, whose record of brutality helped set off the revolt against Hosni Mubarak, the former president, and served as a reminder that nearly two years later, the new president, Mohamed Morsi, had taken few steps to reform the police.
Mr. Morsi’s office also issued a statement saying it was “pained by the shocking footage.” Mr. Morsi’s office issued a statement saying it was “pained by the shocking footage.”
More than 50 people have been killed over the last 10 days during fighting in several Egyptian cities in some of the worst violence since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago. That uprising was set off in part by widespread anger with the ministry’s long record of police brutality. More than 50 people have been killed over the last 10 days in fighting in several Egyptian cities, in some of the worst violence since the fall of Mr. Mubarak in 2011. The beating of Mr. Saber has provoked a different kind of outrage, crystallizing for many the collapse of order and civility that has derailed Egypt’s transition from its authoritarian past.
The beating, though, provoked a different kind of outrage, crystallizing for many the collapse of order and civility that has derailed Egypt’s transition from its authoritarian past. And even if most Egyptians could agree that the beating was vile, they could agree on little else. In the shifting versions of the attack given on Saturday, it was hard to know exactly what happened.
Beneath the official pronouncements of regret, supporters and opponents of Mr. Morsi continued to blame one another for the clashes on Saturday, each citing the unrest as evidence to support their political complaints. In video images, a group of riot police officers are heard cursing at Mr. Saber on Friday night as they beat him on the ground and drag him across a street to an armored vehicle. A witness, Mai Sirry, said that when she saw Mr. Saber, his pants were around his knees. In its initial statement, the Interior Ministry said it regretted the beating and called it an “individual attack” that did not reflect police doctrine.
By Saturday evening, even the essential details of the attack were in dispute as the victim, Hamada Saber, gave an interview on state television asserting that the policemen who beat him had actually been trying to help him. Later, though, in a television interview, Mr. Saber gave an account of the beating from his hospital bed in which he said the officers had come to help as he was running from a group of protesters who had stripped and robbed him. They had apparently thought he was an officer, he said, and left him alone after deciding he was “just an old man.”
Speaking from his hospital bed, he said that the riot officers had come to his aid as he was running from protesters who stripped and robbed him. He said the attack started after he felt what might have been a bullet or birdshot that struck him in the leg, which came, he said, from the “side of the protesters.” “I was afraid,” he said, adding that as he ran away from the protesters, officers came to help. He ran from them too, but they pulled him back, he said, telling him he would die if he did not let them help him.
“I was afraid,” he said, adding that as he ran, officers came to his aid. “They tried to help me,” he said. A woman who identified herself as Mr. Saber’s daughter Randa, speaking Saturday on another Egyptian channel, said her father was being prompted to lie during the interview and was “afraid to talk.”
His account contradicted the reports of witnesses, as well as the video, raising the question of whether he was intimidated or coerced by security officials. “We were with him” when he was attacked on Friday, she said. “They took his clothes off and started kicking him, beating him,” she said, referring to the police. “They dragged him and put him in the car. All this happened. What he says are lies.”
The graphic images of the beating showed Mr. Saber naked and being dragged and beaten by riot police officers with his pants pulled down around his ankles. A witness, Mai Sirry, said she and others watching the protests from her apartment saw officers beat Mr. Saber and strip him of some of his clothes. Officers were cursing at him as they dragged him on the street, his pants around his knees, she said. Speaking to local news media on Saturday, the interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said that after Mr. Saber was released from the hospital, he would invite him to the ministry’s offices to offer his apologies. He repeated Mr. Saber’s account, though he still acknowledged that the officers’ conduct was “excessive” and said he had ordered an investigation.
Later Saturday, the interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, repeated Mr. Saber’s account, though he still acknowledged that the officers’ conduct was “excessive,” and said he had ordered an investigation. The latest violence deepened the sense of crisis in Egypt, and it undermined efforts by the country’s quarreling political forces to settle their differences. After the clashes, supporters and opponents of President Morsi blamed each other.
The violence on Friday also appeared to undermine an effort by Egypt’s quarreling political forces to settle their differences, adding to the sense of chaos. On Saturday, just days after leaders of a secular-leaning opposition coalition sat down at a rare meeting with representatives of Mr. Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party, the opposition group released a statement saying it was “aligned” with those who want “to topple the regime of tyranny, and domination of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
So did the abrupt change of plans by Egypt’s prime minister, Hesham Qandil, on Saturday. Mr. Qandil was forced to cut short a morning visit to protest tents in Tahrir Square when he was heckled in the square, according to the state media. His office said Mr. Qandil left to avoid creating a “pretext” for further violence. In Tahrir Square early on Saturday morning, Mr. Morsi’s prime minister, Hesham Qandil, bore the brunt of the antigovernment anger. He was forced to cut short his visit to protest tents in the square after he was heckled, according to state media. His office said Mr. Qandil left to avoid creating a “pretext” for violence.
In a speech later in the day, the prime minister acknowledged the widespread perception that both the government and its political opposition were losing control. “As a government, let us admit that the government, all the political forces, all the parties failed in containing the youth,” he said. “This is something that we all have to work on.” In a speech later in the day, the prime minister acknowledged the widespread perception that both the government and opposition were losing control. “Let us admit that the government, all the political forces, all the parties failed in containing the youth,” he said. “This is something that we all have to work on.”
At least one person was killed in the clashes on Friday, which broke up what had been a peaceful afternoon sit-in, when a small group of protesters, some wearing masks, tried to ram the gates of the presidential palace with what appeared to be a bench, according to video of the episode. Someone in the crowd threw a gas bomb over the gate, setting a fire that the guards inside can be seen trying to extinguish, first with a piece of clothing and then with water. At least one person was killed in the clashes on Friday, which broke up what had been a peaceful afternoon sit-in, when a small group of protesters, some wearing masks, tried to ram the gates of the presidential palace, according to video of the episode.
As some in the crowd chanted the name of an activist killed during protests in November, several other gas bombs were thrown over the gate. The police responded by firing tear gas and later birdshot at the demonstrators. Officers also set fire to an encampment set up by protesters across the street from the palace.

David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting.

David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting.