Egyptian military claims it is 'ready to protect protestors'

Cairo's Tahrir Square gripped by clashes Cairo - Akram Sami and Agencies The armed forces “are ready to provide Tahrir Square with security forces to protect it from assaults, if protesters want them," a senior military official has said. Clashes erupted between protesters , Interior Ministry forces and military police in downtown Cairo on Saturday after a sit-in in the square was forcibly dispersed. The violence is continuing on Monday for the third day in a row.
Egyptian medical sources said that the death toll in Cairo's clashes between protestors and security forces has risen to 24.
The Ministry of Health earlier announced that around 2000 people have been injured since the violence started three days ago.
In a press conference on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, off Tahrir Square, Major General Saeed Abbas, deputy chief of the armed forces' central command, suggested that these forces would be unarmed.
A video showing military police brutally dealing with protesters in the square with the help of Central Security personnel was posted by activists on the internet and shown by satellite TV channels.
Abbas did not answer some of the journalists' questions, for example, one pertaining to who ordered the decision to end the sit-in and to use live ammunition against protesters.
He denied that the armed forces or police have used any kind of live bullets in dealing with protesters over the past two days.
He claimed that police and the armed forces are only securing the Interior Ministry and are not present in the square.
He also denied that the armed forces broke into Tahrir Square to end the sit-in.
“Unknown people went to the tops of buildings and were shooting protesters to create a division among them, the police and the army,” he claimed, saying that foreign elements are in the background causing the violence.
“Tahrir Square is a vital area for many companies. Closing it causes huge losses,” he said, referring to a LE7 billion loss recorded by Egypt's stock market on Sunday.
"The army did not go to Tahrir but the protesters came to the ministry. The protesters have a right to protest, but we must stand between them and the Interior Ministry," said Abbas.
Mona Mina, a doctor who has been treating the wounded in a mosque near Tahrir Square told 'Arabstoday': "Many people are suffering from wounds caused due to live bullets and tear gas. I myself have treated four people." The International Federation of Human Rights has also accused the military of using live rounds to disperse protestors.
Protests in Cairo have entered a fourth day, as clashes continue between demonstrators and security forces in the Egyptian capital.
Efforts to clear the square appeared to continue on Monday, with TV footage showing tear gas canisters being thrown at protesters.
Elections should go ahead as planned at the end of this month, but political leaders will head to Tahrir to 'protect' the protesters, a conference of political parties has said. The statement has elicited a mixed response from the protestors. While some are relieved that the formal civilian political arena is finally joining the movement, others are frustrated at an apparent unwillingness to confront the SCAF head on
Police and military forces used batons, tear gas and birdshot to clear the central square of thousands of protesters demanding that the ruling military cede power to a civilian authority.
The legislative elections are due on November 28.
An AFP reporter said late on Sunday that on one street protesters were throwing stones and petrol bombs at military armoured personnel carriers and riot police.
He said military police had responded with mostly shotgun fire and rubber bullets. When there was steady fire some protesters began to run while others chanted "Hold fast! Hold fast!" and "We won't leave!"
There were heavy clashes on side streets leading to the interior ministry as protesters chanted "The people want to topple the field marshal" - Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's long-time defence minister who heads the ruling military.
Activists tweeted a video they said showed police dragging a corpse on the ground, in what appears to be Tahrir Square, and leaving it by a rubbish dump.
In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, a funeral procession for one of the victims degenerated into clashes with the police who fired volleys of tear gas at mourners, the official MENA news agency reported.
In the canal city of Suez, troops fired live rounds into the air to stop protesters from storming a police station in the city centre.
Protests also broke out in the central cities of Qena and Assiut, a security official said, adding that 55 people had been arrested nationwide.
A meeting was held between the government and SCAF amid news about the resignation of Emad Ghazy, minister of culture, and the arrest of Bothaina Kamel, the only female presidential candidate.
Emad Abu Ghazi handed his resignation to the ruling SCAF- which took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February -"in protest at the government's handling of the recent events in Tahrir Square," the official MENA agency said.
Kamel was detained in Lazoghly Square, where the ministry of Interior is located, in a protest march against the violent approach of police forces in dealing with the protestors.  
Egypt's cabinet, which held crisis talks for several hours before moving en masse to the headquarters of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for another meeting, said in a statement that parliamentary elections scheduled for November 28 would go ahead.
Egyptians elect a new parliament in a staggered vote that starts on November 28, but even when the assembly is picked, presidential powers remain with the army until a presidential poll, which may not happen until late 2012 or early 2013. Protesters want a much swifter transition.
Throughout the day, sporadic clashes erupted near the interior ministry on the outskirts of Tahrir Square, which was covered by clouds of tear gas and littered with stones and glass.
In makeshift hospitals set up in mosques around the square, demonstrators were treated for tear gas inhalation and injuries from rubber bullets and birdshot.
The army has denied any desire to cling onto power and says it will not let any violence delay the parliamentary poll. It insists it can ensure security during the vote.
“We are all insisting on having the election on time -- the government, parties and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,” cabinet spokesman Mohamed Hegazy told Reuters news agency.
The SCAF, in a statement read out on state television, said it "regretted" what was happening. It said it was committed to the elections timetable.
Earlier Mohsen al-Fangari, a member of the council, insisted the election would go ahead as planned and that the authorities were able to guarantee security.
"We will not give in to calls to delay the elections. The armed forces and the interior ministry are able to secure the polling stations," Fangari told a talk show on the Egyptian satellite channel Al-Hayat.
But analysts say a surge in violence in voting, a common feature of elections in Mubarak’s era of rigged polls, could undermine the assembly's legitimacy if the result is questioned and deepen public frustration at the army’s handling of the transition.
The April 6 youth movement said Egypt’s ruling military council was now “wearing the mask” of ousted president Mubarak.
They went on to say that its members would not leave the square until the entire Cabinet, appointed by the military council, stepped down.
“The following are our unyielding demands: the dismissal Essam Sharaf’s failed Cabinet, especially Interior Minister Mansour al-Essawy; formation of a unity government tasked with saving the country, which should be granted full authority,
without any kind of intervention from SCAF; that presidential polls be held no later than April of next year; and laws to guarantee the right of protesters to stage sit-ins."
Several prominent political figures and intellectuals, including former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, earlier issued a call for a delay to the legislative polls.
They submitted a new transition roadmap which would see an elected constituent assembly draft a constitution and then a presidential election would be held, followed by parliamentary polls.
The recent street protests have seen the return of riot police, the branch of the interior ministry most used by the Mubarak regime in its crackdown against protesters but rarely deployed since.
Friday's rally, which grouped Islamist and secular activists, called on the military to hand power to a civilian government. It also demanded more control over the constitution the new parliament is to draft.
Protesters called for the withdrawal of a government document that proposes supra-constitutional principles, which could see the military maintain some control over the country's affairs and keep its budget from public scrutiny.
The military says it will hand over power after a presidential election, which has yet to be scheduled.
 Arab League chief Nabil Al-Araby expressed his "grave concern" over the deadly clashes, calling for "utmost restraint, while stressing the right of expression and peaceful demonstration," in a statement.
Arabi urged all political forces "to work for calm and return to the political process and move forward with the process of democratic change based on the principles of freedom, dignity and social justice on which the January 25 revolution was founded."
UK foreign secretary William Hague refused to call for Egypt's SCAF authorities to step down now, saying it was important that they oversaw the elections and then transfered power "as quickly as possible" to civilian rule. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Hague said the violence was "of great concern", but that Britain would not be taking sides.
In Brussels, the European Union called on Egypt to respect human rights.
"I urge calm and restraint and condemn the use of violence in the strongest terms," the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.
"Law and order must be ensured in a manner respectful of human rights," she added.