Temporary truce in interior ministry clashes as 2,532 injured

Clashes at Mohamed Mahmouc Street near the Ministry of Interior Cairo – Akram Ali Clashes between Egyptian security forces and protesters in streets surrounding the Ministry of Interior ceased on Saturday morning, after a temporary truce was established between both parties late on Friday.
However, clashes are still ongoing at the crossroad of Mohamed Mahmoud and Mansour Street.
This came about after four fire trucks were able to control the blaze that broke out in the Tax Authority building in Mansour Street during the clashes.
The Health Ministry reported 2,532 injuries, of which 1234 were aided by ambulances near the events. Several others were reportedly rescued in various field hospitals set up in proximity to the clashes.
Meanwhile, 21 revolutionary forces issued a statement where they urged elected MPs to carry out their political duties to end the bloodshed. The parliament adjourned its last session to Monday, an action which the revolutionaries found grossly inappropriate.
Anger at the ruling military council has boiled over as clashes between protesters and security forces entered their third day after a clash between rival football fans after a match left 75 dead. Many blame the security forces present at the Port Said stadium where it happened for letting the death toll mount by not intervening in the clashes between fans of rival clubs Al-Ahly and Al-Masry.
Many of the dead in Wednesday's football riot in the northern city of Port Said were thought to have been Al-Ahly supporters, set upon by partisans of the local Al-Masry side after the Cairo side lost 3-1.
Marchers took to the streets on Friday across the country to demand that Egypt's ruling generals cede power immediately after a night of violence in several cities.
Police fired tear gas and birdshot at protesters on Saturday after dozens of protesters threw stones at officers guarding the interior ministry headquarters hundreds of metres (yards) from the Egyptian capital's iconic Tahrir Square.
In the the canal city of Suez, two people died in clashes overnight from birdshot wounds, medics said. Hospital officials said nine people have been killed in Cairo and Suez since the start of the violence.
Five people were also wounded in overnight clashes outside police headquarters in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, state media reported.
A soldier injured outside the interior ministry on Thursday died in hospital on Friday, MENA reported.
Protesters, many of them organised supporters of Cairo's main football clubs known as the Ultras, held up a huge banner to the police that read: "Those who didn't deserve to die have died at the hands of those who don't deserve to live."
The Ultras played a prominent role among anti-regime elements in the uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak a year ago, and commentators and citizens have suggested pro-Mubarak forces were behind the massacre, or at least complicit.
In a sign of increased insecurity, gunmen carrying automatic weapons stormed a police station in east Cairo, freeing detainees before setting fire to the building.
In the Dokki neighbourhood, a group of men attacked a police station, taking weapons from the building.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) blamed the unrest on "foreign and domestic hands targeting the country."
In a statement on Facebook, it urged "all political and national forces of this great nation to take a national and historic role and intervene... to return stability."
After the final whistle, victorious Al-Masry fans invaded the pitch, throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at Al-Ahly supporters, causing panic as players and fans fled in all directions, witnesses said.
On Friday, the prosecutor general slapped a travel ban on the head of the Egyptian Football Association Samir Zaher -- a day after he was sacked -- and on ex-Port Said governor Mohammed Abdullah, who resigned after the clashes.
"This happened under the military council whose ouster the people are demanding, and who has proved that it is a failure," he said.
Egyptians have become increasingly angry with the junta, which they accuse of failing to manage the country and of human rights abuses.
For months, they have taken to the streets to demand the ouster of the SCAF and its chief, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defence minister for two decades.
The SCAF has pledged to cede full powers to civilian rule when a president is elected by the end of June, but its opponents believe it intends to hold on to power behind the scenes after a transfer to civilian rule.
Political forces called on all MPs, in a statement copied to ‘Arabstoday’, to join youth groups who were forming human shields in order to ensure that security forces would stop firing teargas canisters and firing live rounds on protesters.
The statement considered the Port Said massacre an “attempt by SCAF to punish the Ultras for their central role in the revolution,” which led thousands of angry youth to stage rallies and protests before the parliament, urging it to assume its political responsibility and act accordingly.
The statement added that the youth soon headed towards the interior minister.
Among the movements that signed the statement were the Youth movement for Justice and Freedom, Socialist Popular Coalition, Free Front for Peaceful Change, National Front for Justice and Democracy, the Egypt Awareness Movement Alliance, Egyptian Movement Party, the National Association for Change, Revolution Youth Union, Maspero Youth Union, Revolution Youth Coalition, Revolution Artists Coalition, Egyptian Social Democratic Party youth, Revolution Forces Alliance, National Unity Youth, Arab Revolutions youth, April 6 Youth, and the Hamdeen Sabahi for President campaign.