Mubarak in hospital bed at historic trial

The historic trial began Wednesday on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that ousted him.The scene, shown live on Egypts state TV, was Egyptians first look at their former president since Feb. 10, the day before his fall when he gave a defiant speech refusing to resign.Inside the cage, an ashen-looking Mubarak craned his head up to see the proceedings, a sheet drawn up to his chest. His two sons Gamal and Alaa, who are on trial with him stood next to his bed, leaning over to talk with him. The elder Mubarak and his nine co defendants, also including his former interior minister, all wore white prison uniforms.Outside the Cairo police academy where the trial was being held, hundreds of his opponents and angry supporters scuffled. In a chaotic scene, hundreds of policemen in gleaming white uniforms and riot police with shields and helmets separated demonstrators hurling stones and bottles at each other.It was a sign of the profound emotions stirred by the unprecedented prosecution of the man who ruled Egypt with unquestioned power for 29 years until he was toppled in February by an 18-day uprising. For many Egyptians, the trial is a chance at retribution for decades of oppressive rule in which opponents were tortured, corruption was rife, poverty spread and political life was stifled. But for others, he was a symbol of stability.The courtroom itself is divided. Relatives of the defendants sat in rows of seats near the cage. A fence running through the middle of the chamber divided them from the rest of the audience of around 300 people, including a few relatives of of protesters killed in the uprising, kept far enough that they cannot shout or throw anything at the former leader.Security was extremely heavy outside the courtroom, set up in a lecture hall at what was once named the Mubarak Police Academy in the capital Cairo. Early in the morning, some 50 of Mubaraks supporters chanting slogans and holding portraits of the former leader gathered outside the venue.We will demolish and burn the prison if they convict Mubarak, they screamed at hundreds of police and army troops backed by armored personnel carriers.The pro-Mubarak protesters threw stones toward a giant screen set up outside the police academy, though a police cordon kept them a distance away.Anti-Mubarak protesters held up shoes at the screen in a sign of contempt for the ousted president.For the presidents opponents, it was an unbelievable moment.I have many feelings. I am happy, satisfied. I feel this real success for the revolution, and I feel that the moment of real retribution is near, Mostafa el-Naggar, one of the leading youth activists who organized the anti-Mubarak uprising and a member of one of Egypts newest parties, Justice, said after Mubaraks arrival at the venue.This is a moment no Egyptian ever thought was possible.The trial answers, at least partially, a growing clamor in Egypt for justice not only for the wrongs of Mubaraks authoritarian regime but also for the violent suppression of the largely peaceful uprising, in which 850 protesters were killed. It came only after heavy pressure by activists on the now ruling military one of the few demands that still unites the disparate protest movement.Near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protesters, a dozen people swarmed around newspapers at a stand, reading headlines about the trial. One man spit on a picture of Mubarak on a front page.