CLASHES ROCK CAIRO LEAVING 22 DEAD

CAIRO, Egypt - Back to square one and like what they did during Hosni Mubarak regime, fresh deadly clashes erupted like volcano taken place in Cairo's Tahrir Square between police and protesters demanding the end of army rule, as the ruling military council faced its worst crisis since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.
The clashes, which have left 22 left dead in three days according to the interior ministry, threatened to derail the country's first elections since Mubarak's ouster in February. Renewed fighting also broke out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, state television said.
Hundreds have also been injured during the protests that have raged in Cairo, Alexandria and the canal city of Suez.

• Police and military forces Monday sporadically used batons, tear gas and birdshot against thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square demanding for a third straight day that the ruling military cede power to a civilian authority.
• Culture minister Emad Abu Ghazi quit in protest at the government response to the demonstrations, he told the official MENA news agency.
• By the afternoon, thousands had converged on Tahrir Square — the symbolic heart of protests that toppled Mubarak.
• The health ministry said 22 people had died in the violence, kicking off a violent countdown to the country's November 28 parliamentary elections.
• Egypt's stock exchange tumbled 4.04 per cent on closing yesterday, with the main EGX-30 index dropping 3,860.00 points.
• Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called for calm and urged all political forces to press forward with the democratic process.
• He urged them to work for calm and return to the political process and move forward with the process of democratic change based on the principles of freedom, dignity and social justice on which the January 25 revolution was founded.

The clashes first erupted on Saturday, a day after large crowds staged a peaceful anti-military mass rally at the square, resuming on Sunday and carrying through the night into Monday, witnesses and television footage showed.
Police and troops on Sunday seized the square only to be beaten back by protesters who retook it later, as had also happened on Saturday.

Source: Agency