Death Toll in Egypt Clashes Rises to 35
Clashes between demonstrators and police around Cairo's Tahrir Square continued for the third day on Monday raising the death toll to at least 35 and the number of injured people to 1,700.
Riot police and soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to evict stone- and petrol bomb-throwing protesters flocking to Tahrir Square.
In side streets near the square and the office of the interior ministry, police also beat demonstrators with baton to stop them from demanding the resignation of the interim military government and immediate installation of a civilian authority.
There were also violent clashes reported in other parts of Cairo, in Alexandria and in Suez that also resulted in hundreds injured. Live bullets were reportedly fired on protesters who attacked a police station in Suez.
Amid Monday's violence, the interim cabinet led by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf resigned but the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) led by Hussein Tantawi rejected it.
The demonstrators started assembling in the square Saturday calling on the army generals ruling the country to step down. On Sunday, police and troops took over the square with force but demonstrators returned and drove them out to the side streets.
The SCAF has scheduled parliamentary elections on Nov. 28. It said the poll with push through despite calls by politicians to postpone it.
Prominent political figures and intellectuals, including former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, are proposing that a constituent assembly be elected first to draft a new constitution followed by a presidential election. Parliamentary elections will be last.