By AGENCIES
CAIRO: Clashes between Egyptian riot police and protesters demanding that Egypt’s ruling military council step down stopped overnight for the first time in days on Thursday. The two sides are observing a truce after deadly street battles in which at least 40 people have died.
The truce came into force around 6 a.m. and was still holding by late morning, though demonstrators occupying Cairo’s Tahrir Square vowed to stay put until the army relinquished power.
Egypt’s military also issued a statement on Thursday apologizing for the loss of life and vowing to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of protesters in the iconic square and elsewhere in the country.
Army troops have used metal bars and barbed wire to build barricades to separate the protesters and the police on side streets leading from Tahrir to the nearby Interior Ministry. Most of the fighting has been taking place on those side streets.
“We want to stop these clashes, people are dying … there are young kids throwing stones at the police,” said 30-year-old protester Osama Abu Seree.
In the first significant pause in violence since Saturday, clashes stopped at midnight in Tahrir and elsewhere after protesters agreed with police to stay in the square.