Egypt's military police clash with protesters

Security forces stormed a protest camp outside Egypt's Cabinet building, expelling demonstrators calling for an end to military rule, just as officials were counting votes Friday in the second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections.             

The clashes underlined simmering tensions between activists and security officers and threatened to ignite a new round of violence after two peaceful days of voting in an election considered the freest and fairest vote in the country's modern history.              

Clashes erupted as demonstrators were camped out in front of the Cabinet building, demanding that the country's military rulers transfer power immediately to a civilian authority. The sit-in was in its third week.           

Egypt's state news agency said at least four wounded people were taken to a nearby hospital and that a fire had broken out in a nearby government building as a result of the clashes.                         

The violence erupted on the same day that a campaign was launched to urge Egyptians to buy Egyptian-made goods to boost the country's battered economy in the wake of continued unrest.

AP