In Egypt, three protesters have been reportedly killed after soldiers stormed a protest camp outside the Cabinet building in Cairo. The soldiers expelled the demonstrators who were calling for an end to military rule. The Health Ministry said another 257 people were injured.

The clashes came after two days of mostly peaceful voting in an election considered the freest and fairest vote in the country's modern history.

Protesters at the Cabinet building said the violence began Thursday evening after soldiers severely beat a young man who was taking part in a sit-in. The protesters gathered to demand the country's military rulers transfer power immediately to a civilian authority.

Hundreds of people rushed to join the protest after videos and pictures posted online showed people carrying the wounded man. The pictures showed his face and eyes bruised and swollen, and blood dripping from his nose.

An Egyptian protester Najlaa Ahmed said, "Some protesters accidentally kicked a football into the parliament building. One protester went to get the ball and he was beaten badly and this is what triggered the clashes."

Police fired in the air after dawn to try to disperse the demonstrators.

Protesters said security forces burned their tents overnight and ended the sit-in.

By Friday morning, the area around the cabinet office and parliament was strewn with rubble as soldiers and men in plain-clothes threw stones from the roofs of state buildings down on protesters, who hurled back rocks.

An unnamed protester said, "Many have been killed and injured. Every so often the ambulances would come and take someone away, people who had been hit in the head with stones. Even small children."

Egypt is currently ruled by the military after long-time President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in unrests in February. Rights groups and activists accuse the military of carrying on the practices of the old regime, including arresting and beating dissidents.

The latest clashes have underlined simmering tensions between activists and security officers and threatened to ignite a new round of violence.