Hundreds of women have taken to the streets of Cairo to protest against military rule and the brutal treatment of female protesters by Egypt's security services. The women rallied outside a government office complex in Tahrir Square, the scene of violent clashes earlier on Tuesday in which at least four demonstrators were shot dead by military police. Dozens of men joined the demonstration out of sympathy with the women. They acted as a protective cordon and chanted: "Egyptian women are a red line."
The protest came after soldiers made another violent attempt to evict demonstrators camped in the square, during the fifth day of bloody confrontation between the military and opponents of army rule.
It also followed condemnation of the treatment of female activists in Egypt by Hillary Clinton. The US secretary of state said she was appalled by the treatment being meted out to female protesters – particularly by a photo showing a young woman, stripped to her bra and jeans, being kicked and dragged along the ground by two police officers. "This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people," Clinton said. She added: "Women are being beaten and humiliated in the same streets where they risked their lives for the revolution only a few short months ago."