Desperate times call for desperate measures. The anti-Mubarak protesters in Tahrir Square have resorted to a variety of headgear - at times comical - to protect themselves in the pitched battle against President Mubarak's thugs.

Stones are the preferred weapon in this Old Testament-style fight within the Egyptian capital and the protesters have made use of whatever lies closest to hand.

There's the man with a saucepan on his head, another with what looks like a latticed litter basket - so he can still see where the rocks are coming from - and another with a piece of styrofoam tied with a scarf to the top of his head.

In Yemen, one protester was even more inventive - he created a makeshift helmet with two baguettes, a chapatti and clingfilm.


















Throughout last night there were what appeared to be a planned series of assaults on the demonstrators. Activists said police snipers used the cover of darkness to shoot at them, killing at least three people.

About 300 people are believed to have died since the Egyptian uprising began. But after several days of peaceful rallies the situation drastically changed within the last 24 hours. The president’s supporters charged into the square on horses and camels, lashing people with whips, while others rained firebombs and rocks from rooftops.

Demonstrators calling for an immediate end to Mr Mubarak’s 30-year-rule accused the state of organising the violence to crush their protest or to create a pretence for the military to intervene to restore order.

The protesters showed police ID badges they said were taken from their attackers, while some government workers said their employers ordered them into the streets.

Dr Rafik Bedair, of the Egyptians United group based in the UK, helped organise a group of six British doctors who flew out to Cairo from London last night to provide medical treatment to protesters. He told the Standard: 'There is no question this is state-organised violence. People are being massacred in the square. The big question is when the army will intervene and whose side they will take.

'The government has used these tactics before at election times of paid thugs and secret police to create unrest. They may then call on the army to keep order. But more anti-government protesters have been arriving in the square this morning to increase our numbers. People are willing to fight.'

The U.S. is condemning the notion the state may have co-ordinated violence against protesters.


Preparations: Anti-government protesters bring stones to throw at supporters of President Hosni Mubarak



Aftermath: Protesters carry a suspected plain clothes policeman for treatment after he was hit by a rock