Cairo protesters demand early vote, clash with police

Protesters demanding a swift presidential election and an early handover of power by the army hurled rocks at police guarding the Egyptian interior ministry on Sunday and were forced back with volleys of tear gas.It was the fourth day of clashes outside the ministry, in which seven people have died. Protesters accuse the ministry of failing to prevent the deaths last week of 74 people after a soccer match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said. Five more have died in Suez.Some protesters believe that remnants of the government of ousted president Hosni Mubarak were behind violence that caused a stampede at the soccer match last Wednesday, and see it as part of a plot to create chaos to reassert their influence.Political figures and a civilian advisory body to the military have suggested bringing forward a presidential vote to April or May, from the June date foreseen in the transition timetable of the army, which took power after Mubarak quit.Police and protesters, some waving flags of Al Ahli soccer team which played in Wednesday’s match, hurled rocks at each other and police fired volleys of teargas to push the lines of mostly young protesters back from the ministry building.The authorities erected fresh barriers of big concrete blocks barring access through streets leading to the ministry. Some earlier barriers had been hauled down.“The demand is that the army step down politically and announce the start of nominations for the presidential election immediately,” said Waleed Saleh, 30, an activist with a facemask at the ready, speaking near the ministry.The military council, which took charge when Hosni Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising on February 11, has promised to hand power to civilians by the end of June after an election.