Soldiers and protesters clash

Egypt's military sought to isolate pro-democracy activists protesting against their rule, depicting them as conspirators and vandals, as troops and protesters clashed for a third straight day, pelting each other with stones near parliament in the heart of the capital.

At least 10 protesters were killed and 441 others wounded in the three days of violence, according to the Health Ministry. Activists say most of the persons killed died of gunshot wounds.

The fighting, sparked when troops sought to break up a sit-in outside the Cabinet headquarters, has seen a particularly heavy hand by the military.

Military police have been shown in video footage dragging women by the hair, even stripping the shirt off one veiled woman, and ferociously beating, kicking and stomping on protesters cowering on the ground.

Fewer protesters

Still, the protesters' numbers have remained smaller than earlier rallies - suggesting even anger over the disturbing images was not drawing the broader Egyptian public into a confrontation with the military, which activists behind the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's autocratic regime 10 months ago accuse of mismanaging the transition period and committing human-rights abuses.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the ruling military council yesterday called the clashes part of a "conspiracy" against Egypt. It said its forces had the right to defend the "property of the great people of Egypt".

Seeking to depict the protesters as hooligans - and apparently to counter the widely published images of protesters being beaten - it also posted on the page footage of young men throwing rocks at a basement window of the parliament building, and of at least one man trying to set the place ablaze.

In yesterday's clash, protesters and troops battled on two main streets off of central Tahrir Square, trading volleys of stones and firebombs around barriers that the military set up to block the avenues.