Egyptian pro-democracy supporters gather in Tahrir Square
Thousands of Egyptian pro-democracy supporters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 18, 2011
Protesters in Egypt have stormed several locked offices belonging to the former regime's secret police and say the documents they found contain evidence of phone-tapping, election-rigging and torture.
With a new cabinet in the making and former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak gone, activists took their anger out on the country's secret police on the weekend, taking over several of its buildings in Cairo and Alexandria.
The Mubarak regime used the secret police to torture opponents and monitor any resistance within the population.
The military council, which has ruled Egypt since Mr Mubarak stepped down, warned against releasing the documents, citing national security concerns.
But protesters say what they found shows the state security apparatus must be dissolved.
"State security has never served to protect this state's security. It's real function was to protect the regime. The state security was never there to protect us. All they did was set their thugs on us and spy on us," one protester said.
"We want it dissolved and turned into an information gathering authority, nothing more. We don't need them to torture people and label them terrorists," said another.
When the demonstrators broke into the offices, they say what they found confirmed their worst fears.
"We found torture tools. Basically in one of the rooms we found a number of electric shocks. It is not the usual electric shock that we used to see with some of these officers," a third protester said.
"This time it was a bit long, it was black. The electric rods at the end of it were a bit like the teeth of some animal or something.
"It was really outstanding and if you turn it on there is a blue type of a spark that starts working and former detainees showed us how it actually, how it was used on them.
"Another torture tool was basically a cube-like frame made of rods and sticks attached to it and there is an electricity charger attached to this structure with some electricity plugs.
"There are a number of ways that detainees used to be tortured using this device. The thing was so scary, some people started crying after seeing all this."
He says the documents contained evidence that the secret police spied upon and manipulated almost every aspect of daily life in Egypt during Mr Mubarak's three decades in power.
"We found also plans for rigging the elections, the parliamentary elections in 2010," he said.
"Exact plans telling how many votes will go to each candidate in every district in the country and how the state security and some state security agents working in the media are going to support certain candidates."
Knife-wielding men
Meanwhile, as demonstrations continue outside a state security building in the capital, some of those involved say they have been set upon by men in plain clothes wielding knives.
It is the first time since the fall of Mr Mubarak last month that there have been reports of a violent crackdown on protesters.
It does not bode well for Egypt's new prime minister, Essam Sharaf, who is currently trying to put together a cabinet more palatable to the opposition movement.
French foreign minister Alain Juppe visited Cairo on Sunday, offering whatever support was needed.
"As I said upon my arrival, I did not come here with ready-made solutions or advice to be followed. Quite simply to say that France is ready to help," he said.
Some analysts are comparing the attack on secret police headquarters to the storming of the Bastille and it looks likely that the fall-out from the weekend's events will be felt for some time to come.
WikiLeaks has started posting online what it says are images of some of the documents seized by protesters at the weekend.
WikiLeaks says it is also offering to help the activists reconstruct shredded files. The organisation claims to have the world's best shredder reconstruction team on hand.
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