Fierce Street Battles In Egypt As Families Demand Justice for Loved Ones Killed During the Uprising

In Egypt, nearly 600 people have been reported injured in Cairo’s Tahrir Square after security forces attacked a large group of protesters overnight with tear gas and rubber bullets. Tensions erupted over the lack of accountability and justice for the nearly 1,000 people people killed during the 18-day popular uprising that led to the fall of former president, Hosni Mubarak. Many of those attacked on in the ongoing clashes are family members of protesters killed during the uprising. We speak with Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous who reports from Cairo.

Egyptians stage anti-Israeli rallies

Thousands of Egyptian activists have taken to the streets of the capital, Cairo, and other major cities to voice their support for the Palestinian cause.

Egyptians gathered at Cairo's Liberation Square -- the epicenter of the Egyptian revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak's regime.

The Cairo rally -- named a million-man march -- coincides with the anniversary of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories in 1948.

Activists have called for a march to neighboring Gaza, which is under Israel's siege.

Meanwhile, several thousand also held protest outside the Israeli consulate in Alexandria, calling for an end to Cairo's relations with Tel Aviv.

They demanded their military rulers to abandon Israel and lift the blockade on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Protesters have threatened to continue massive protest rallies if the current government does not move to cut off ties with the Israeli regime.

Egypt's political parties say the Gaza blockade serves the interests of Israel and the US and threatens regional stability and independence.

Under the US-backed Mubarak regime, Egypt consistently served Tel Aviv's objectives in the region by helping to impose a crippling blockade on the impoverished Strip after the democratically-elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.
The huge gathering also dubbed as national unity rally comes in the wake of the recent fatal sectarian unrest in Egypt.

Sectarian clashes between Salafis and Coptic Christians in Cairo left at least 12 people dead and hundreds of others wounded last week.

The protesters also want their unmet demands to be fulfilled.

The demonstrators want Mubarak to be tried and the figures affiliated with his regime to be sacked.

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Gaza aid ship 'diverted to Egypt'

The Amalthea is carrying 2,000 tonnes of supplies intended for the people of Gaza [Reuters]

A Libyan aid ship originally bound for the Gaza Strip has been diverted to a port in Egypt after the Israeli navy warned the vessel against trying to break an Israeli blockade on the Palestinian coastal territory.

Israeli warships were shadowing the Moldovan-flagged Amalthea, carrying 2,000 tonnes of food and medicine, to its diverted destination of El Arish port on the Egyptian Sinai coast.

"Eight Israeli warships are surrounding the Libyan aid ship for Gaza and preventing the continuation of its journey," Yousseuf Sawani, executive director of the Gaddafi Foundation which charteredthe vessel, said early on Wednesday.

Sawani said earlier that the warships were "threatening" the Amalthea, also known as Al Amal, which he said was still headed for Gaza. But he made it clear that those on board would not violently resist any efforts to stop them.

"First and foremost, we want to arrive to Gaza. If this is impossible, we don't want to subject anyone to danger," he told Al Jazeera.

Sawani said that communications with the boat had been jammed and the vessel was moving at a slow pace because of the Israeli warships that were trailing it.

An Egyptian official confirmed that the ship sought and received permissionto sail to El Arish, where authorities would unload its humanitarian aid cargo and transfer it by land to Gaza.

But he said that there was "no co-ordination at the moment with the ship and we do not know where its final destination is".

Possible disputes

An Israeli official hinted at possible disputes between the chartered crew and passengers over the destination.

"It's far from clear that there is agreement about where the ship is headed," said the official, who had been briefed on the navy's radio exchanges with the Amalthea since contact was made with it some 160km from Gaza Strip's shores.

Just before midnight, the ship's crew said they were stuck because of engine trouble.

In a recording played on Israel radio, a crew member said he did not know how long it would take to repair the main engine and resume the journey.

Amalthea was still around 90km from land but is not expected to dock for another day. It is carrying 12 crew members and at least nine passengers, including six Libyans and one each from Algeria, Morocco and Nigeria.

Overland convoy

A separate attempt to deliver aid relief and medical supplies to Gaza is also currently under way.

A convoy of 150 people, including "unionists, journalists and academics", is travelling overland in 25 vehicles from Jordan to the Egyptian Rafah crossing.

These challenges to the blockade come a day after Israel's military admitted mistakes in the May 31 attack on a flotilla of aid vessels trying to breach the blockade.

Nine pro-Palestinian activists, eight Turks and a dual US-Turkish citizen, were killed after Israeli soldiers boarded the lead ship Mavi Marmara.

Following an international outcry over the raid, Israel recently eased restrictions on the Gaza Strip, allowing some previously banned items into the territory.