Egypt government building set alight as pressure on military mounts

Feb 5, 2012, 10:07 GMT

Cairo - Arsonists in Egypt on Sunday targeted a government building, following overnight clashes between security forces and protesters calling on the military to speed up the transfer of power to a civilian administration.

State television reported the fire at the tax authority building, adjacent to the Interior Ministry in Cairo. The air around nearby Tahrir square, the epicentre of protests leading to and following the overthrow of president Hosny Mubarak, was thick with smoke and the smell of teargas.

The clashes came after an advisory council set up by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on Saturday recommended February 23 as the opening date for the registration of candidates for presidential elections. The SCAF had initially proposed registration by mid-April for the elections due to take place in mid-June.

The advisory council also proposed the detention of all leading figures of Mubarak's now-disbanded National Democratic Party as well as senior Interior Ministry officials appointed under Mubarak.

At least 12 people have been killed in several Egyptian provinces since the clashes erupted in the wake of rioting at a football match that claimed 74 lives in the northern city of Port Said on Wednesday.

Protesters and football fans - known as Ultras - marched to the Interior Ministry on Saturday to protest against the military and police, which they blame for Wednesday's deaths.

Several political groups are accusing the military of having orchestrated country's worst-ever football riot and of using it as an excuse to hold on to power.

According to medical reports said the deaths in the latest clashes were as a result of birdshot injuries or the inhalation of tear gas.

Activists have been calling for collective acts of civil disobedience to pressure the military to speed up the transfer of power.