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On Sunday at 8 p.m., my friends and I started throwing rocks.
At the very beginning there was a lot of tear gas
My friends and I went in – there were people protecting us
People holding pieces of metal, for instance, to stop rubber bullets or stones being thrown at us
I was there for four hours before I was wounded
When I got to the hospital there were maybe sixty wounded from Mohamed Mahmoud Street
There were APCs but no Central Security vans
There were people treating the wounded and people who had vinegar
Lots of people had passed out
There were lots of rubber bullets
But those who were hit by rubber bullets got treated and went back
I got hit by two rubber bullets and went to the field hospital
Then my friends and I went back Then they were shooting these noisemakers to scare people
After a while I saw a lot of injured people but I didn’t think it was live ammunition
This was around 10:30
It didn’t occur to me at all that this was live ammunition although there were a lot of injuries
They had shields – every soldier had a shield and a stick, so rocks didn’t get to them
If I threw a rock, no matter what, it wouldn’t hit them
So why hit us with rubber bullets and tear gas?
On Mohamed Mahmoud Street, the police had put up a roadblock and there were two APCs and CSF troops
It would have been hard to get past these people – not hard, impossible
As a means of protest, if we were throwing stones at them, we’re objecting
We don’t like the state the country’s in, we don’t like the way elections are run, we don’t like the field-marshal’s decrees We want a civilian transitional council, and they’re not fulfilling any of our demands
Even [Tantawi] doesn’t move his lips much. The last time I heard him speak was maybe – I don’t know when. I don’t remember him giving a speech
We were all there, guys between eighteen and forty, forty-five years old – all ages.
We all stood together, we helped each other. If someone needed something, there was vinegar, there was…
No one could have infiltrated our ranks, like they said, and no one could have shot at us except the police, because we defended each other very well
So there was no third party
No third or fourth or fifth anything. And if what they said were true, how could they protect the Ministry of Interior and fail to protect the people? How could they fail to defend the protestors?
They’re defending the whole street for a ministry, and letting us get shot at? And then they say a third party was shooting? How does this make sense? It’s not logical
There was maybe five meters between me and the police, six or seven meters. We would move forward and the demonstrators would come up behind us so that if the police shot tear gas it wouldn’t hit us – so we were defending ourselves
The demonstrators were behind us with rocks
The police started shot a couple of automatic rounds so people got scared and moved back
There was a sheikh with us, he and I were holding a piece of metal together, he got scared and dropped it and moved back.
So I was left holding it by myself. I got lucky and fell down. While I was on my knees suddenly I felt paralyzed.
Until now I can’t move my left leg. The bullet hit me in the back and exited through my stomach. My pelvis is fractured.
A demonstrator pulled me back a bit, then three demonstrators picked me up and put me on a motorbike. I put my hand on my back and found a lot of blood pouring out.
That’s when I discovered it was a bullet. I still couldn’t believe they were using live fire.
As soon as I was in the ambulance I uncovered the wound and found a hole in my back and another in my stomach.
[Wounded by a gunshot]
I was hemorrhaging badly but I didn’t pass out till we reached the hospital.
I got to the ER at Qasr al-Aini but they said there’s no room so I went to the Bulaq public hospital.
I was bleeding for about an hour and a half after I got to the hospital. No one paid attention to me. First an officer came to write up a report and asked me “why were you there? what were you doing? who shot you?” He was writing up his report before they took me into the operating theater, while I was bleeding.
We went out to protest and we were shot with live ammunition? I couldn’t believe it till I got to the hospital.
[You’re how old?]
Twenty-two – twenty-three
[You work as a press photographer?]
I have a BA from Cairo University and I work as a press photographer
[For al-Dustur newspaper?]
For al-Dustur. I’m an intern, by the way.
[What are you talking about? They should dedicate a statue to you.]
Why? Thank God for everything