Four killed as protesters battle police in Egypt

Cairo: Four people were killed and over 1,000 wounded in clashes between government forces and protesters in Cairo and the coastal city of Suez, the Health Ministry said yesterday.

The protesters, angered by the deaths of 74 people in football-related rioting in the city of Port Said on Wednesday, have been battling security forces near the Interior Ministry headquarters in central Cairo for two days.

Security forces fired tear gas on a group of protesters who were pushing their way towards the headquarters. Wearing facemasks the protesters engaged in stone-throwing with the security forces.

Other protesters waved the national flag and banners of Al Ahli and Zamalek, Egypt's two top clubs. The tragedy, caused by fans' invasion of the pitch following a local football game, heaped more pressure on the military rulers, who have been controlling Egypt since former president Hosni Mubarak's toppling last year, to step down.

Marches staged

A series of marches was staged yesterday in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-Mubarak revolt, and several other Egyptian cities, vowing "retribution for the martyrs".

"What are we waiting for to remove the military rule? Death is lurking everywhere," said Ehab Saleh, a law student, joining a protest in Tahrir.

"The police and the military are colluding against the Egyptian people. They must be purged."

Around 180 people have been killed since the military took over last February, according to opposition activists.