Running battles flared in central Cairo on Wednesday even after Egyptian military police reinforced riot police guarding the Interior Ministry, a flashpoint for violence. Riot police had earlier pulled back in what seemed to be an effort to calm tension after more than 30 people have been killed and 2,000 wounded in Egypt in six days of protests targeting the ruling army council, not the army itself.
But clashes erupted after nightfall as military police showered tear gas on stone-throwing demonstrators and fired guns into the air. Protesters stampeded back towards nearby Tahrir Square. Ambulances, sirens wailing, ferried casualties away while smoke billowed over the area from fires lit by youths.
As dusk fell, thousands of people, many of them onlookers, had crowded into Tahrir, which was also the arena of protests which toppled President Hosni Mubarak on February 11. Vendors were selling everything from snacks to face masks for protection against wafting tear gas.