Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian cleric Muhammad Hassan, given at Cairo's Tahrir Square, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on January 30, 2011:
Muhammad Hassan: I am extremely happy to see judges and Al-Azhar clerics here. Indeed, the religious scholars should have stood by our youth. They should have talked to them about Allah, and should have instructed them to keep their calm, and to avoid intimidating peaceful people, and to avoid bloodshed. I forbid any officer, whether in the police of the army, to shoot a live bullet at any of our defenseless youth, who took to the streets only to demand their just and legitimate rights.
Allow me to salute the army for its heroic and splendid conduct, and for its honorable fusion with our people in the streets.
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