59 injured as troops use tear gas, water cannon on protesters

Thousands of anti-military demonstrators protest near the ministry of defence in Cairo Egypt\'s military rulers imposed an overnight curfew around the defence ministry Friday after two people were killed, nearly 300 injured and 170 arrested in fierce clashes between troops and protesters .
A mass protest by Egyptian political and pro-democracy groups in Cairo has turned violent as activists report the military using live fire,m water cannon and tear gas against thousands of protesters, who werethrowing rocks at security forces.
The April 6 youth movement said by evening it was withdrawing from Abbassiya \"to prevent further bloodshed\" and asked all other protesters to leave as well. Abbassiya Square was reportedly emptied after demonstrators there were tear-gassed.
Police apparently threw rocks back at demonstators as they scattered when gunfire erupted outside the defence ministry headquarters in Cairo. A general from Egypt\'s ruling military council had earlier warned against protesting at the Abbassiya headquarters of the defence ministry, saying soldiers \"had the right to self-defence\".
The clashes erupted when protesters in Abbasiya tried to cut through barbed wire between them and troops blocking access to the ministry. Live footage on state television showed troops snatching one protester, beating him with metal sticks, tearing his clothes and leaving his back bloody.
The troops fired water cannons at protesters and hurled stones at them to keep them from advancing. The protesters took shelter behind metal sheets snatched from a nearby construction site and hurled back stones. Others climbed the roof of a nearby university and showered soldiers with rocks from above. The troops then opened up with heavy volleys of tear gas that pushed the demonstrators back.
The Friday protests, initially called for by the Muslim Brotherhood, were to demand the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) respect a July deadline to hand over power to a civilian government.
 Other protesters were supporters of Islamist candidate Hazem Abu Ismail, who is among a number of candidates disqualified from standing in the May 23 presidential election.
The participating April 6 movement wanted accountability from the SCAF over the deaths of protesters in the Abbassiya clashes.
Egypt\'s health ministry had reportedly dispatched 70 ambulances to the Abbassiya protests, dubbed the \"Final Friday\" march and the Arab Doctor\'s Association has set up two makeshift clinics.
The al-Nour Salafi party has boycotted the Abbassiya protest.
The ultra-conservative Salafi movement has become increasingly popular recently. Its candidate, Hazem Abu Ismail, was disqualified because his mother had dual Egyptian-US nationality.
Friday’s protest comes amid heightened tension after 11 people were killed in clashes that broke out on Wednesday when an unidentified group attacked protesters staging a sit-in outside the ministry of defence in Cairo.
The liberal or political activist movements include the Coalition of Revolutionary Youth and the April 6 Movement.
Maj Gen Mukhtar al-Mullah earlier warned protesters against approach the defence ministry.
“Self-defence is applicable against anyone who approaches a military facility. Whoever does that must endure the consequences,” Mullah told a news conference. “The defence ministry, all military units and facilities are symbols of military honour and the dignity of the state, those who approach them will have themselves to blame.”
Army troops were accused of standing idly by as clashes broke out on Wednesday and did not  intervene until after the deaths.
However, the military denied that it was responsible for the bloodshed.
\"Our hands are clean of Egyptian blood,\" Major General Mohammed al-Assar, a senior official in the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), told a news conference on Thursday.
The ruling military council has tried to counter accusations that it might use the violence as a pretext to ignore its own deadline to relinquish control of the country.
\"We say it frankly and clearly. The armed forces and their supreme council are committed to the handover of power on June 30,\" al-Assar said.
\"We don\'t desire power. The Supreme Council (of the Armed Forces) is not a substitute for legitimacy in Egypt,\"
He gave assurances that the military, which seized power after Mubarak\'s ouster, will ensure the integrity and fairness of the presidential election.
\"We are committed to fair elections [...] We don\'t have any [favoured] candidates. All the candidates are respectable Egyptians.\"
The military has been accused of badly bungling the transition to democratic rule over the past year, with the deaths of more than 100 people in political violence.
It cracked down on pro-democracy protests and hauled more than 10,000 civilians to trial before military tribunals.
The generals have failed to restore security which deteriorated sharply after the uprising, when police vanished from the streets. They have also failed to prop up the battered economy.
Rights advocates and various political groups allege the military is scheming to ensure a political role for itself after handing over power to protect its vast business holdings and other privileges from coming under scrutiny by a civilian authority.