At least four people have been shot dead in clashes with Egyptian police who fired salvos of tear gas and gunfire at protesters angry over the deaths of 74 people at Port Said this week.
One man and a soldier died outside the Interior Ministry, in Cairo, which has become a target for demonstrators furious that the police failed to prevent a soccer riot that killed 74 people in the Mediterranean city of Port Said.
At least 1,050 people have been injured in clashes near the Interior Ministry premises in Central Cairo, according to an Al Arabiya correspondent at the scene.
Protesters turned their rallies in Cairo and the city of Suez into a call for Egypt’s ruling military council to surrender power because of what they say is the army’s mismanagement of the country’s transition to democracy. More rallies were planned.
Earlier, two protesters died by police gunfire in clashes with security forces in Suez, witnesses said. Officials denied they were killed by police gunfire.
About 3,000 people had demonstrated in front of the city's police headquarters and police fired tear gas and live ammunition, witnesses said. A third protester in Suez was in critical condition because of a wound to the neck.
In Cairo, rallies spiralled into violent clashes between the protesters and police as demonstrators charged toward the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police. Thousands threw rocks, and police responded with tear gas and gunfire.
Most of those killed in the Port Said football stadium on Wednesday night were crushed in a stampede and the government declared three days of mourning, but protesters hold the
military-led authorities responsible."We will stay until we get our rights. Did you see what happened in Port Said?" said 22-year-old Abu Hanafy, who arrived from work yesterday evening and decided to join the protest.
The ministry in Cairo, an object of hatred for football fans who say lax policing was to blame for the stadium disaster, was still hemmed in by the street battles today, though the ranks of protesters had thinned since last night.
A witness heard firing and found gun pellets on the ground. A hard core of demonstrators had heaved aside a concrete barrier blocking a main road near the ministry overnight to get closer to the building.
"We pulled it down with our bare hands," said Abdul-Ghani Mohamed, a 32-year-old construction worker. "We are the sons of the pharaohs."
Ambulances had to intervene overnight to extract riot police whose truck took a wrong turn into a street full of protesters.Protesters surrounded the vehicle for at least 45 minutes, rocking it while the police were inside. Some of the demonstrators then formed a corridor to help them escape.
Twenty-eight youth activist groups and political parties called for mass protests on what was called the "Friday of Anger". A few hundred people, some of them protesters who had
camped out overnight, held midday prayers in Cairo's central Tahrir Square.
Close to 400 people have been hurt in the confrontations since yesterday, the health ministry said, many of them by inhaling tear gas fired by riot police protecting the interior ministry.
An army lieutenant was killed by a security vehicle that ran over him by mistake, the newspaper al-Masry al-Youm quoted the health ministry as saying.
Rocks thrown by protesters were strewn across streets that two months ago witnessed violent clashes between police and activists who see the interior ministry as an unreformed vestige of Hosni Mubarak's rule.
Hardcore football fans known as Ultras, who often clash with the police and were at the forefront of the popular uprising against Mr Mubarak one year ago, vowed to continue their protests.
"The crimes committed against the revolutionary forces will not stop the revolution or scare the revolutionaries," said a pamphlet printed in the name of the Ultras.
In Suez, witnesses said fighting broke out at a local police station in the early hours of today.
"We received two corpses of protesters shot dead by live ammunition," said a doctor at a
morgue.
Many shops in Suez were wrecked and the facade of the Suez Canal Bank was destroyed.
Police had cordoned off the Suez state security headquarters and a Justice Ministry compound with razor wire and seven burned-out vehicles lay nearby. Roads were strewn with glass.
The soccer stadium deaths have heaped new criticism on the military council that has governed Egypt since Mr Mubarak stepped down.
Critics regard the generals as part of his administration and an obstacle to change.The army leadership, in turn, has presented itself as the guardian of the "January 25th revolution" and promised to hand power to an elected president by the end of June.
Health officials said at least 1,000 people were hurt in Port Said when fans invaded the pitch after local team al-Masry beat Cairo's Al Ahli, Africa's most successful club.
The cause of the violence has been the focus of intense speculation. Some believe it was triggered by unknown provocateurs working for remnants of the Mubarak administration
who are seeking to sabotage the transition to democracy.
Interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim said the fans started it by insulting and provoking each other.Ibrahim was widely blamed for the deaths during an emergency parliamentary session yesterday.
MPs including the Islamists who control some 70 per cent of the chamber called for him to be held to account and accused him of negligence.
Safwat Zayat, an analyst, said the incident had done further damage to the image of the ruling military council.
"The current events push in the direction of speeding up the transfer of power to civilians," Mr Zayat said
Reuters