Running battles rage in Cairo

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Source: AJE

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Pro-democracy protesters gradually pushed back Mubarak loyalists who had swarmed onto a nearby highway overpass where they had been pelting their rivals with objects.

Our producer said: "The pro-democracy group began a slow advance onto the bridge, which had earlier been cleared of pro-Mubarak forces by an army tank.

"The pro-democracy crowd briefly lost its high ground ... but they regrouped, and their counterattack eventually pushed the pro-Mubarak group down to the Corniche, where they are now slowly retreating past the state television building.

"The contrast between both sides' tactics is striking: The pro-democracy protesters have organised themselves, building walls and seizing strategic locations; the pro-Mubarak crowd has mostly advanced in a mob, hurling rocks, then retreating under return fire."

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201123125548860929.html

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1. Tense calm in Tahrir Square

There is a tense calm in Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square following clashes between pro-democracy protesters and loyalists of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's embattled president.

Earlier, the two sides fought running battles near the square, the epicentre of protests against Mubarak for the past 10 days, with witnesses reporting hearing the sound of gunshots.

An Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from the scene, said it was not clear who was behind the firing.

There have been sporadic clashes throughout Thursday, as the army fanned out to separate the two sides and allowed thousands more protesters to enter their camp in the square.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201123125548860929.html