Egyptian protesters demanding an end to army rule clashed with police firing tear gas in central Cairo today in a flare-up that cast another shadow over a parliamentary election billed as the nation's first free vote in decades.
One protester, Ahmed Sayed, 21, died after being hit by a state security vehicle. His death was the first since a truce between police and demonstrators on Thursday calmed violence that had killed 41 people in Cairo and elsewhere.
Hundreds of demonstrators camped overnight in Cairo's Tahrir Square ahead of a lengthy, staggered election process due to start on Monday in Cairo, Alexandria and some other areas.
The clash occurred near the cabinet office where protesters began a sit-in on Friday against the army's appointment of 78-year-old Kamal Ganzouri, a premier under Hosni Mubarak, as new prime minister. They aim to prevent him from getting inside.
The Interior Ministry said the vehicle had hit Sayed by accident, an account backed by Ahmad Zeidan, 18, an activist at the sit-in who said he had seen the youth being run over.
"It wasn't deliberate. They (police) were retreating quickly because (protesters) were throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at them," he said. The demonstrators had come from Tahrir to confront police vehicles apparently heading for the square.
"Down, down with the marshal," a group chanted in Tahrir, near tents set up on grassy patches. They were referring to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the ruling army council and was Mubarak's defence minister for 20 years.