Egypt unrest: Military's heavy hand against protesters

CAIRO (AP) - Troops pulled women across the pavement by their hair, knocking off their Muslim headscarves. Young activists were kicked in the head until they lay motionless in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Unfazed by TV cameras catching every move, Egypt's military took a dramatically heavier hand Saturday to crush protests against its rule in nearly 48 hours of continuous fighting in Egypt's capital that has left more than 300 injured and nine dead, many of them shot to death.

The most sustained crackdown yet is likely a sign that the generals who took power after the February ouster of Hosni Mubarak are confident that the Egyptian public is on its side after two rounds of widely acclaimed parliament elections, that Islamist parties winning the vote will stay out of the fight while pro-democracy protesters become more isolated.

Still, the generals risk turning more Egyptians against them, especially from outrage over the abuse of women. Photos and video posted online showed troops pulling up the shirt of one woman protester in a conservative headscarf, leaving her half-naked as they dragged her in the street.

"Do they think this is manly?" Toqa Nosseir, a 19-year old student, said of the attacks on women. "Where is the dignity?"

Nosseir joined the protest over her parents' objections because she couldn't tolerate the clashes she had seen.

"No one can approve or accept what is happening here," she said. "The military council wants to silence all criticism. They want to hold on power ... I will not accept this humiliation just for the sake of stability."

The clashes began early Friday with a military assault on a 3-week-old sit-in outside the Cabinet building by protesters demanding the military hand over power immediately to civilians.

More than a week of heavy fighting erupted in November, leaving more than 40 dead - but that was largely between police and protesters, with the military keeping a low profile.

At least nine people have been killed and around 300 people injured in the two days of clashes, according to the Health Ministry.