THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The graffiti on the smashed-up police riot van in downtown Cairo on Saturday seemed to speak for the hopes of millions. Daubed in two-feet high letters across a battered side panel, it read simply: 'The End'.Yet as tens of thousands of Egyptians poured into the city centre for a fifth day of protests demanding a finish to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, it seemed the moment they all longed for was still some way off.
While a carnival atmosphere prevailed during the morning in the city's Tahrir Square - the focus of much of last week's protests - events elsewhere suggested the hopes of a peaceful revolution were somewhat premature.
Just a few miles away across the Nile, the crack of police tear gas guns could be heard as demonstrators tried to storm a Ministry of Interior building, with reports of at least one of them killed.
Meanwhile, doctors at a central Cairo hospital told The Sunday Telegraph of the high price paid during demonstrations the night before - some 30 bodies brought in, many of them apparently killed after the Presidential Guard, a special army unit loyal to Mr Mubarak, opened fire using live ammunition.
In other cities across the country, there were similar reports of further violence, suggesting that "The End" might well just be the beginning, and that a great deal more blood might yet be spilt on the way. In all, across the country, there were credible reports of deaths totalling 89 on Friday. >>> Colin Freeman, Cairo | Saturday, January 29, 2011
