i ll let richard answer after me. i have seen no arms in the hands of protesters, pro-mubarak forces. the rounds of gunfire you have heard were from army vehicles for what i assume is crowd control and suppression, not designed in any engagement i have seen here tonight to strike human beings. richard, i don t know if you have seen anything? reporter: it s been difficult to see who is firing. the gunfire came from the areas where the pro-mubarak supporters were retreating. they were retreating in the direction of the army vehicles. they were outnumbered, overwh m overwhelmed and taking cover behind the vehicles. if you saw the vehicles firing in the air, maybe it was to give them cover. we haven t seen anyone hit. if they were shot in the hair,
carrier is moving toward the area where the fighting escalated on the october bridge, no longer in tah rirks,r square. an ambulance is moving to the area. they are not sending out a smoke screen like before. it s like the army is as confused by this as we are and doesn t know where to position themselves. they are moving around and would like to get between the remaining pro-government demonstrators and the angry crowd of protesters. they are on a bridge. richard, you described an ambulance on the scene. are you seeing anybody who is hurt? reporter: i saw one person hit by a molotov cocktail. he was on fire. i have not seen anyone bleeding or seems to be shot from this
now, live images from cairo. nbc s brian williams and richard engel are reporting live on what they understand is happening. sorry to interrupt you, richard. what do you think is happening with that truck? reporter: you asked a short while ago what would happen if the protesters caught a member of the rival group. and it seems that that is happening right now. the driver of that vehicle has been taken out. he s been kicked. he s on the ground. they are probably they ve been attacking the vehicle. and the driver seems to be laying down on the ground now. and this kind of incident, mob justice, if you will, there has been no intervention. can you tell if that s some sort of official vehicle? it looks like a private it looks like a private vehicle from this distance. but it s your understanding that the protesters that are surrounding this man who was driving this vehicle are
if this continues with military grade weapons happening, firing at the center of cairo for much longer, the army will have to interve intervene. to be clear, is there any indication that the antimubarak forces are shooting back or they are also armed with guns? reporter: i don t think i m in a position to answer that. we have heard crackling of gunfire. it appears to be coming from the west and from the northeast. these are areas that have been taken over by supporters of president mubarak. we have the supporters where they went in retreat. i don t know who is firing the weapons and whether they are protesters also firing. logic would dictate the gunfire is coming from the area where the pro-mubarak supporters are
anti-government protesters? reporter: that is from where they were coming from, and where they are heading to, that is the assumption, that these are protesters, these are anti-government protesters who caug caught they are putting him back in the car. i don t know why. this could end very, very badly for the driver of this vehicle. if there are lynchings in the streets here, that would be yet another deterioration. we are now just starting to smell what seems like tear gas for the first time today. so there is a greater degree of intervention, and some tear gas is clearly now being fired in the area. does the presence of tear gas mean that there are either police or army forces nearby that may try to take some sort