Police have fired salvos of tear gas and birdshot at rock-throwing protesters in Cairo as popular anger over a deadly football riot spilled over into a second day of street violence that left at least four people dead and more than 1,500 injured nationwide.
The protesters blame the police for failing to prevent a melee after a match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said on Wednesday which killed 74 people.
The violence - the football world's worst in 15 years - also has fuelled frustration with the ruling generals who took power after the uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak last February.
On Friday Egyptians furious over the bloodshed took to the streets in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and several Nile Delta cities.
The biggest demonstrations were in the capital, where protesters wearing helmets and gas masks fought their way through streets thick with smoke from tear gas towards the interior ministry, targeted because it is responsible for the police.
Many protesters have suggested the authorities either instigated the Port Said violence or intentionally allowed it to happen to retaliate against the football fans known as Ultras, who played a key role in clashes with security forces during the uprising which toppled Mubarak.
"I came down because what happened in Port Said was a political plan from the military to say it's either them or chaos," said 19-year-old Islam Muharram.
The clashes in Cairo began late on Thursday and escalated overnight, with protesters pushing through the barricades erected around the fortress-like building and bringing down a wall of concrete blocks erected outside the ministry two months ago, after similar violence left more than 40 protesters dead.
On the square on Friday, thousands of people rallied to condemn the security forces for failing to stop the Port Said bloodshed. They also called for early presidential elections and demanded the army speed up the transfer of power to a civilian administration.
Meanwhile, some 1,500 protesters marched to the defence ministry, chanting "the people want to execute the marshal," referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council.
