Egypt general says Geneva Conventions give army right to shoot protesters

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Manar Ammar | 23 December 2011 | 0 Comments

Injured protesters recover at field hospital. -Joseph Mayton

CAIRO: Egyptian military advisor Abdel Moneim Kato said that the Geneva Conventions give the Egyptian military the right to shoot protesters and that the armed forces has tolerated the “intolerable acts from the protesters.”
In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Thursday, Kato said the “Tahrir Girl,” made famous after her image of being beaten and stripped to her bra made headlines around the world and drew criticism towards the country’s military ruling council, was attacked by soldiers in a justified manner.
He said the girl had a “megaphone” and she was “insulting the troops with it” and when she was approached by officers and soldiers who came to arrest her, she resisted.
“The soldiers toppled her down to control her,” Kato said.
“How do we capture a criminal? Do we beg him to get arrested? The forces have to paralyze his movement,” he added.
Kato, who is known for his fiery statements recently, when he told reporters last week about how the protesters should be burned in “Hitler’s ovens” and yet again he has been criticized heavily.
The retired army general and now advisor to the ruling military junta, added that the armed forces “tolerated too much from the protesters” and refused to reveal how many injuries or deaths of troops, saying it is a “military secret.”
“The army’s dignity don’t allow it to reveal the number of its casualties as it doesn’t trade from announcing such news,” Kato added.
He said that the Geneva Conventions allows the military to shoot at protesters as soldiers are to “shoot feet first, then legs then chests,” yet he adds the military used rocks to defend itself.
The ill-informed comment was met with great sarcasm over the general’s misunderstanding of the conventions that site these rules in the case of war.
One political commentator asked if the military considers itself at war with the Egyptian people and that they have now occupied Tahrir square after it fell in February.
Other online activists mocked the comments, asking Kato to remain silent. Others advised him of taking up reading as a hobby.
Online video documenting the police attacks last week that left at least 17 dead and over 700 injured, shows a different reality to the army’s official story.
Videos showed the military shooting at protesters.
A large number of the fatal injuries that arrived at local hospitals were from gun shots to the head or the chest, according to doctors on call.
BM