Egyptian troops launch assault on protesters after clashes

Egyptian army troops and police on Sunday launched a major assault to evict protesters from Cairo's Tahrir Square after two days of clashes.

An estimated 5-thousand people turned out to protest in and around Tahrir Square. Hundreds of army soldiers and police, backed by armoured personnel carriers, fired tear gas and rubber bullets, then set fire to tents to evict the protesters from the central Cairo square. But the protesters returned after the attack to reclaim the square. By Sunday night, doctors in Cairo were saying 10 people had been killed in the assault.

The protesters are demanding that the military, which took over from Mubarak in February, quickly announce a date for the handover of power to a civilian government. An Interior Ministry statement said 55 protesters had been arrested since the violence began on Saturday and a total of 85 policemen were hurt in clashes.