Civilian cabinet resigns as violence continues in Cairo

CAIRO police fought protesters demanding an end to army rule for a third day yesterday and morgue officials said the death toll had risen to 33, as it emerged the interim civilian cabinet had submitted their resignations to the ruling military council.

State television said last night the members will stay on to run the nation’s day-to-day affairs until a final decision is made.

Protesters are demanding that the military announce a date for the handover of power to a civilian government. Prime minister Essam Sharaf’s government has come under criticism from across the political spectrum since it came to office in March for perceived inefficiency and subordination to the military.

Tens of thousands of people last night packed Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-Hosni Mubarak revolt in January and February, despite the clashes that threaten to disrupt Egypt’s first free election in decades, due to start next week.

Protesters have brandished bullet casings in the square, where police moved in with batons and tear gas on Saturday against a protest then dominated by Islamists but since driven by young people with secular aims. Police deny using live fire.

Medical sources at Cairo’s main mortuary said 33 corpses had been received there since Saturday, most of them with bullet wounds. At least 1,250 people have been wounded, a health ministry source said.

“I’ve seen the police beat women my mother’s age. I want military rule to end,” said protester Mohamed Gamal, 21.

Army generals were fêted for their part in easing Mubarak out, but hostility to their rule has hardened since, especially over attempts to set new constitutional principles that would keep the military permanently beyond civilian control.

Police attacked a makeshift hospital in the square after dawn yesterday but were driven back by protesters hurling chunks of concrete from smashed pavements, witnesses said.

“Don’t go out there, you’ll end up martyrs,” some protesters told people emerging from a metro station at Tahrir Square.

The violence casts a pall over the first round of voting in Egypt’s staggered and complex election process, which starts next Monday.

The Army Council yesterday issued a law to bar from political life “those who work to corrupt political life and damage the interests of the nation”.

But the announcement was unlikely to satisfy political parties and activists who have called for a blanket ban on former members of Mubarak’s now-defunct National Democratic Party.

Activist Mohamed Fahmy said: “This is a meaningless move … a slap in the face of protesters and those who died to demand freedom and respect. The council is out of step with the people.”

Some Egyptians, including Islamists who expect to do well in the vote, say the Army Council may be stirring insecurity to prolong its rule – a charge the military denies.

The latest street clashes in Cairo and other cities show the depth of frustration at the pace of change. About 5,000 students marched in Alexandria, demanding an end to military trials of civilians and for those responsible for the recent violence to be brought to justice.

Residents reacted angrily when police fired tear gas into a crowd gathered below a burning building about 200 metres from Tahrir Square, hindering the rescue of trapped residents.

Protesters chanted “Tantawi burnt it and here are the revolutionaries” – a reference to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s defence minister for two decades and now leader of the Army Council.