CAIRO. Egypt - Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president, is back in court to face charges of killing protesters, in a hearing that could decide if the head of the ruling military council will take the stand as a witness.
Mubarak, 83, who has mostly been confined to hospital since he was toppled by mass protests in February, was wheeled into the Cairo court on a stretcher on Monday morning.
Egyptians split over Mubarak trial legitimacy.
Dressed in a navy blue sports sweater, Mubarak appeared inside the courtroom in a caged defendants' box, along with his sons, Gamal and Alaa, who face corruption charges, and answered, "Present", when trial judge Ahmed Refaat called his name.
Scores of lawyers representing some of those killed during the protests that toppled Mubarak are attending the trial and Refaat struggled to maintain order amid chaotic scenes as the court convened.
Hundreds of riot police stood guard outside the court but scuffles broke out between supporters of the former president and those demanding that Mubarak be held responsible for those killed in the final weeks of his rule.- Defence lawyers say that any testimony by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defence minister for two decades, on the former president's role in trying to suppress the 18-day uprising, in which more than 800 people were killed, could be critical to the case.
But Al Jazeera correspondent Rawya Rageh said the trial was likely to focus mainly on corruption and profiteering charges, rather than the charge of conspiring to kill protesters or the excessive use of force against protesters.- Some 5,000 riot police officers were deployed along with armoured cars outside the courthouse to keep apart scores of pro- and anti-Mubarak protesters gathered to rally and to watch the proceedings of the trial on a giant screen placed outside the court.
- The police had separated the two crowds with cordons but brief clashes broke out when one pro-Mubarak protester crossed over into the other group and engaged in a conversation with his counterpart which escalated into a fight, Rageh reported from the scene.
- Several men were bleeding from the head from wounds obtained when hit by thrown stones and rocks. Police withhelds crowds of women fighting
Inside the courthouse, lawyers for the relatives of the slain protesters shouted and bickered before the judge arrived in the room, apparently over seats.
Meanwhile, Mubarak laid on the stretcher looking composed and stern, with hands clasped over his chest. An intravenous needle was implanted in his left hand.
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