Egypt: hundreds of police fired after protests

Egyptian protesters camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square had some of their wishes granted on Wednesday, as the country's ministry of interior announced the termination of nearly 600 police officers, according to Voice of America.

Demonstrators in Tahrir have continuously called for the removal of police officers accused of killing protesters during Egypt's uprising earlier this year. 

37 of the security personnel fired on Wednesday had been accused of violence during the country's revolution, reported VOA.

More than 800 people were killed in late January and February.

Still, thousands of Egyptians remained in the streets of Tahrir on Wednesday, for the sixth straight day, demanding even more political reform from Egypt's military-led transitional government, which assumed power when ex-president Hosni Mubarak stepped down on February 11.

The mood in Tahrir was increasingly tense on Wednesday.

Several vendors who were selling tea, food, and other souvenirs were ejected from the immediate area of Tahrir in the morning. Protesters said that some of the merchants milling about the square were paid "thugs", ordered by Egypt's military-led government to "incite chaos" in the city center.

Others in Tahrir believed that either Mubarak loyalists or undercover security had penetrated the area.

"To all police and army officers wearing plainclothes uniforms in the square, it is now time for you to leave," screamed one of the speakers at the main podium in Tahrir on Wednesday afternoon.

(GlobalPost in Cairo on the "thugs" in Tahrir: Egypt's second round of protests)

Egypt's police forces have been conspicuously absent from the streets of Tahrir since clashes first erupted between security and protesters nearly two weeks ago.

And with all security responsibility left up to the popular committees guarding the entrances to Tahrir, there were worrying signs that some in the square had started taking the law into their own hands.

On Tuesday, protesters in Tahrir caught several “thugs” who allegedly carried knives and attacked at least one female journalist, according to demonstrators.

Ahmed Adel, an 18-year-old protester who has been camping in Tahrir since late June, helped catch two of the young men.

People in Tahrir had tried transferring apprehended thugs to Egypt's military in the past, said Adel, but the army would just release them back to the streets.

So, these men had to be taught a lesson, said Adel.

The young men were beaten, stripped naked, and then tied to a palm tree in the middle of the square.

Al-Ahram reports on one of the men who was caught:

They beat him up pretty badly and stripped him naked to make an example of him. Other groups of protesters in the square objected to the brutal treatment, causing a dispute between both groups to erupt. There has also been an argument over what the protesters should do with the suspect.

An Egyptian newspaper posted disturbing pictures of the men tied up to a palm tree in Tahrir on Tuesday.  

"We do not want to take justice into our own hands," said Adel. "But we had to send a clear message to other thugs that they can not come back to this square."