Egyptian security forces clashed with protesters in the area around Tahrir Square for a third day, amid violence that has already claimed dozens of lives and injured thousands more.
In response to the violent confrontations, Egypt’s cabinet offered its resignation to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Monday.
The resignation has not yet been approved by the military leaders. When Egypt’s finance minister offered his resignation last month after dozens of Coptic Christian’s were killed by security forces in a protest his resignation was rejected.
On Monday black-clad riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at young demonstrators demanding that the country’s military rulers step aside for a civilian government.
The clashes on Monday were the forth day of protests against the military interim government. The protests began on Friday but turned violent Saturday morning when police attempted to move demonstrators from Tahrir Square in central Cairo.
The square was the main focus point for demonstrators during the uprising against the former President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago.
Back then, the military was seen as the hero of the revolution as senior generals gathered to push Mubarak from power.
However, opinion has begun to turn in recent months and an announcement two weeks ago that the military would be exempt from civilian oversight in its affairs and budget set off a firestorm.
The country is due to hold its parliamentary elections next week, but the announcement said that the military would retain power until a further presidential election would be held, at either the end of 2012 or 2013.
Protesters are calling for the immediate transfer of power to a civilian government.
“What does it mean, transfer power in 2013? It means simply that he wants to hold on to his seat,” protester Mohammed Sayyed told The Associated Press, referring to the head of the Supreme Council Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.
“I will keep coming back until they kill me. The people are frustrated. Nothing changed for the better,” Sayyed added.
Egypt’s health ministry has reported that 24 people have been killed in the violence. However, Reuters news agency said that the country’s main morgue at Zainhum hospital has received 33 bodies.
Some 1,500 people have been injured in the violence since Saturday, the ministry said.
Dozens of makeshift clinics have been set up around Tahrir Square, on sidewalks or outside mosques, and volunteer health officials have arrived to treat the wounded.
Violence has raged largely unabated since Saturday, with clashes overnight. Several news reports recounted eyewitnesses as saying that security officials were firing live rounds into crowds of protesters.
The crackdown has already drawn criticism from both inside Egypt and from the wider region. Amr Moussa, the former secretary-general of the Arab League and now an Egyptian presidential candidate, condemned the violence.
“The way the police deals with the protesters ... we’re all against this kind of violence and this treatment of the people,” he told the BBC.
“You cannot justify any amount of the use of force against the civilians expressing their own point of view,” Moussa added.
