CAIRO, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Testimony was heard Monday about how the Egyptian Interior Ministry under former President Hosni Mubarak used weapons to fire on protesters this spring.
Outside the courtroom at the Police Academy near Cairo, clashes erupted between anti-Mubarak factions and police guarding the academy, al-Masry al-Youm reported. Mubarak supporters were protected by police and kept away from anti-Mubarak protesters.
The Health Ministry said at least nine people were injured in the clashes. Witnesses said at least four anti-Mubarak protesters were arrested.
Mubarak, 83, is charged with corruption and murder in the deaths of protesters during 18 days of demonstrations. Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, also are standing trial on corruption charges. Ex-Interior Minister Habib al-Adly is also charged in the killings of protesters and previously received a 12-year prison sentence for corruption. Mubarak confidant and business tycoon Hussein Salem is being tried in absentia.
In the courtroom Monday, Gen. Hussein Saeed Mohamed Mursi, communications chief for the Central Security Force, testified weapons and ammunition were transferred in ambulances to the Interior Ministry headquarters, police stations and prisons.
He said conversations indicated weapons were used only at the Interior Ministry and security forces did not use machine guns against protesters, state television reported.
Al-Masry al-Youm sadi 10 Kuwaiti lawyers who were to join Mubarak's defense team weren't allowed into the courtroom when the trial began.
Judge Ahmed Refaat recessed the the proceedings for several hours Monday after clashes broke out inside the courtroom between Mubarak's defense team and lawyers representing the families of people who died during the uprising that led to Mubarak's ouster.
