VO: It was the bloodiest week in Egypt since the Port Said Soccer Massacre in February.

With three weeks to go before the anticipated first round of presidential elections, the latest death toll has renewed public outrage toward the ruling military junta.

A dozen people were killed when pro government thugs attacked a sit-in outside the ministry of defense in the Abbaseya neighborhood. 

Protesters refused to leave the sit-in.  

The military warned it would respond with force against anyone who advanced on the ministry of defense.

As usual, friday prayer was the prelude to a larger demonstration that would culminate in the afternoon outside the army barricades. The prayer at the Abbaseya sit in was small in size but emotional.

SOT WOMAN: Please God, give victory to Islam, victory to our youth and Egypt.

VO: Some of the protesters had lost friends and relatives in the bloody week of violence. 

Since Mubarak's ouster, the conservative islamists known as Salafis, had largely stayed away from street protests, instead participating in last november's parliamentary elections.

Exceeding expectations, Salafi parties won a quarter of the seats of parliament.

But when their preferred presidential candidate, Hazem Salah Abu Ismael, was disqualified three weeks ago, many Salafis hit the streets, against the military council  .

SOT Salafi Man: Hey Field Marshall (Tantawi)/tell Anan (2nd in Command)! The revolution has returned to the square!

VO: Now, the Salafis have joined revolutionaries from all walks of life, including liberals who have often been at odds with the Salafis. All coming together to battle government security forces, which have routinely attacked protesters since the ruling military junta came to power last year.

SOT Protester: We will not fear your bullets!.

VO: After prayer, marches began arriving in Abbaseya, and the growing numbers of protesters moved toward the tenuous barbed wire barricade fencing off the ministry of defense.

The mood was tense.

When a few protesters who jumped the barricade were beaten by soldiers, the violence began.

Both sides hurled rocks at each other.

Some of the protesters tried to stop the rock-throwing.

But their efforts were futile.

Water cannons did little to fend off angry demonstrators.

Protesters tore apart this construction site, using anything and everything to protect themselves from government forces.

For a while, the rock battle was a stand-off.

SOT Protester: Where is the clinic? Keep going, man!

VO: Injured protesters were carried away but others quickly replaced them.

Military helicopters flew overhead.

Both before and after Mubarak's ouster, the government relied on police and thugs to crush protests, portraying the military as a neutral force that is protecting the people.

But this time, the lines were clearly drawn.

Thousands of egyptians, most from working class backgrounds, faced off against a military government with a 4.6 billion dollar annual budget for its armed forces, more than a quarter of that financed by the United States government.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently approved the 1.3 billion dollars in annual military aid to Egypt's ruling generals. This, despite claims from human rights groups that Egypt's military junta, like the Mubarak regime, is brutalizing its people.   

SOT Protester: That's the army! And the thugs who attacked us were also from the army. It's the army! And the police! They bombard us with gas. I was here for the Day of Rage. The tear gas wasn't like this. This one burns our faces entirely.

VO: When the soldiers started firing tear gas, they gained the upper hand.

The protesters were pushed back.

Those that remained fighting were quickly overwhelmed by the barrage of tear gas pouring in from all directions.  

After protesting and staging a sit-in in front of the ministry of defense for seven days, the protesters were flushed out in a chaotic rush in a matter of minutes. 

Vendor stands and makeshift clinics were destroyed as thousands struggled to flee the area.

The fallen included the elderly, the sick, the injured, women, children and this woman's young infant. 

STAND-UP: We just got gassed out of the sit-in. Security forces released massive amounts of tear gas on people, literally flushing the people out. It was terrible. People were stampeding, people were falling everywhere. The clinics had no time to remove the injured people. And now we're outside the sit-in which is incredibly dangerous for people who have been participating in the occupation because this place is a bastion for pro-government supporters. But as you can see, people here are resilient. And they say they'll continue to fight the Egyptian military junta until it is finally removed.

VO: Protesters fled from the military, only to face an even more terrifying prospect.

SOT Protester: The military is killing us, Mamdouh! We're dying of suffocation! They're even firing live ammunition!

VO: With nowhere to hide, they were forced into the surrounding abaseya neighborhood, controlled by pro-government thugs.

JIHAN: We're going to get trapped!

VO: A dozen people had been killed two days earlier when thugs attacked the sit-in in front of the Ministry of Defense.

Now, with the sit-in destroyed in a matter of minutes, danger was imminent.

Desperate and terrified Egyptians are seen at this metro stop pleading with the conductor to slow down.

This man jumps in front of the oncoming train. 

Those left behind were rounded up by the armed forces.

Hundreds of egyptians were tracked down, beaten, assaulted and detained by thugs roaming Abbaseya in apparent coordination with the army.

Among the 400 arrested and currently being held were medics and journalists.  

SOT Doctor: Last Friday in Abbaseya, they came into Ain Shams university and took five medical students. They took them from the university, while they were wearing their white coats and were helping the injured. They arrested them and now they're trying them in military courts. 

VO: The military junta imposed an 11 pm to 7am curfew around Abbaseya, setting up road blocks and checkpoints, effectively militarizing the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the state media ratcheted up the propaganda campaign, demonizing the protesters at the sit-in as hooligans and thugs.

Round the clock video of injured soldiers and anchors blaming revolutionaries, and especially Islamists, for the violence played before and after the clashes.  

The media propaganda has been effective.

Residents who appear to be Islamists have been targeted by thugs, and some are afraid to leave their homes.

SOT Alshaimma Helmy: My name is Alshaimma Helmy. I am an Egyptian activist and a resident of the Abbaseya district in Cairo. Right now, I've been stuck in the house. I know lots of people who got killed from our neighborhood and also from the revolutionary side. One of them is actually our neighbor who got killed and now my aunt is going to talk about him. 

SOT Alshaimma's aunt: We had a neighbor whose name is Sheikh Amr Ibrahim. This brother was a supporter of [presidential candidate] Hazem Salah Abu Ismail]. And also a member of the campaign. A group of thugs waited for him outside his home. One thug kicked him and threw him on the ground on his face. And the other one who had a gun, shot him in the head, back and stomach. Our neighborhood is full of thugs, full of criminals. They have shown so much hatred to our bearded brothers, and our sisters who wear the niqab.

SOT Protester: The military is full of thieves!

VO: On sunday, protesters took to the streets again, demanding the immediate release of those detained.

STAND-UP: This is the first major gathering of demonstrators since the military cleared the Abbaseya sit-in. And as you can see it is a convergence of different groups. You have liberals, moderates, Islamists, including the Ultras, fans of Egypt's major soccer team. Everyone's heading to parliament to demand the military junta release the hundreds of detainees that were rounded up following the Abbaseya clearing. 

SOT Doctor: There was a demonstration in front of the military courts in the 10th district. There were 200 people who were demanding that the detained not receive military trials. The military police came out and beat them as well, and detained them too. This didn't even happen during Mubarak's reign!

SOT Protester: I'm wearing this [sticker] because of the people they have been detaining. In the past three days, they've arrested around 450 people. So we're out here to say that we are against military trials for civilians.

SOT Health Care Worker: Of course, Friday was a terrible day because our friends were arrested. In the afternoon, most of us were resting from our work in the clinic. One friend was going to the mosque to pray and was arrested there. One of my colleagues, Mohamed Motawe, he's a pharmacist from our college. Another is a paramedic, Malek, and several doctors were arrested. So we're here today for them.

SOT Protesters: The people want to execute the Field Marshall [Tantawi]!

VO: Hoping to appease public outrage, parliament said it would do away with military trials for civilians once a president was elected. An open-ended investigation into the clashes in Abbaseya was scheduled this week. Activists and occupants of what was the Abbaseya sit-in are invited to give their testimonies.

SOT Protester: I am here today because I saw with my own eyes the youth who were killed in Abbaseya. Some of them had nothing to do with the sit-in. How can the military and the police go killing people in the streets? They let loose the police and thugs on the youth. How can they jail Egypt's youth? How can they fire live ammunition at a metro? There are kids, women and adolescents. Why? And for what? These are the youth who were demanding freedom! They're punishing the youth! They're oppressing Egyptians for the sake of [Mubarak], the oppressor, the thief, who transferred funds abroad, and turned us into beggars. Starved us! Killed us! Down with all Military Council dogs! Down with all the Military Council cronies!

VO: Aside from demanding the release of the prisoners, many protesters speak of the military council's reign of terror.  

Eye-witness accounts and videos circulating online illustrate a mercenary force of government thugs attacking and killing demonstrators throughout last week.

JIHAN: Where are these thugs from?

SOT Protesters: The response to the question: The Military Council. They are enforcing their region over us. It's the same idea. It didn't change. The same idea as Mubarak's. The camel battle, January 28, the Day of Rage, the Mohammed Mahmoud battle, the same schemes from the same minds. When you look at the broader picture, that's the Military Council, that's Mubarak's council.

VO: As for the military council, Egypt's de-facto ruler, Mohammed Tantawi visited injured soldiers in the hospital in what seemed like a staged event for national broadcast.

Meanwhile, his soldiers celebrated the destruction of the sit-in and the mass arrests of activists with Abbaseya residents.