Riot police fire teargas at
stone-throwing protesters demanding army hand over power outside the interior
ministry in Cairo
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| An Egyptian protester gets rid of a teargas canister fired by security forces during clashes near the interior ministry |
It was the fourth day of clashes outside the ministry, during which seven people have died. Protesters accuse the ministry of failing to prevent the deaths last week of 74 people after a football match in Port Said. Five more people have died in Suez.
Some protesters believe that remnants of the Mubarak regime were behind the violence, which was triggered by a pitch invasion after a football match between Al Ahly and Al Masri on Wednesday. They see it as part of a plot to create chaos in an attempt by the old guard to reassert its influence.
Political figures and a civilian advisory body to the military have suggested bringing the presidential vote forward to April or May, from the June date foreseen in the transition timetable of the army, which took power after former president Hosni Mubarak quit.
Police and protesters, some waving Al Ahly flags, threw stones at each other and police fired volleys of teargas to push the lines of mostly young protesters back from the ministry building on Sunday.
The authorities put up concrete barriers to block streets leading to the ministry. Some earlier barricades had been torn down.
"The demand is that the army step down politically and announce the start of nominations for the presidential election immediately," said Waleed Saleh, 30, an activist, speaking near the ministry.
The military council, which took charge when Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising on 11 February last year, has promised to hand over power by the end of June after an election. Calls for a quicker handover have been mounting, and the Muslim Brotherhood - which has the biggest bloc in parliament - added its voice on Saturday to those calling for a faster transition.
An army-appointed civilian council set up to advise the military is proposing that nominations for the presidency be accepted from 23 February, nearly two months earlier than the 15 April date previously announced.
"If the army adopts that proposal, it will reduce the level of tension," said Saleh, who also voiced a view popular among activists that the army might still try to influence policy from behind the scenes even with a civilian president in place.
Saleh is among hardened activists who have kept a permanent presence in Tahrir Square since 25 January, the anniversary of the eruption of protests against Mubarak.
Other protesters also called for the army to quit now and demanded retribution after the football deaths and for those killed in protests. There has been intense speculation about the cause of Egypt's worst ever football violence.
"Those people over there are the reason for the deaths in Port Said," said 25-year-old Mahmoud Gaber, pointing to the police lines. Moments later, a police riot van advanced and fired teargas on youths in the street, briefly pushing them back.
Many are angry that there has not been a deep clear-out in the police force, and that officers use the same heavy-handed tactics against protests as in Mubarak's era. The interior minister has blamed the incident on provocations by rival fans.
Many Egyptians are increasingly worried by the continued turmoil, and some see the army as the only institution able to guard the country from a descent into chaos.
Newly elected independent parliamentarian Yasser Qadri, a member of the assembly's national security committee, said his committee was proposing drawing lines near state buildings.
"Those who cross the red line would be dealt with according to the law that gives security the right to protect state buildings from attacks," he said.
But that could prove a provocation to protesters who have ignored big concrete barriers.
Among the hundreds injured in the four days of clashes was Ahmed Maher, a leader of the 6 April movement which helped galvanise the protests against Mubarak. He was in hospital on Sunday with a head injury but was stable, the group said.