CAIRO: Former low-ranking policemen protesting outside the interior ministry in Cairo on Wednesday set fire to an adjacent administration building, a security official told AFP.
The policemen — demanding reinstatement into the police force — hurled firebombs at the smaller building, which is also used by the ministry, in central Cairo. Several cars outside were also set alight.
According to the official news agency MENA, the building is used to store criminal evidence.
Another official said army soldiers fired in the air in an attempt to disperse the crowd, but failed.
Soldiers who remain deployed in the heart of the capital in the wake of the 18-day uprising against president Hosni Mubarak put the fire out, and there were no reported casualties, an official said.
Reports of human casualties were denied by security officials on the scene.
About 50 protesting policemen, believed to be involved in starting the fire, were arrested by the army and were seen in security trucks as firemen put out the fire. –Agencies and Daily News Egypt.
