Clashes between riot police and protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square have intensified after Egypt's army chief made a conditional offer for an end to army rule.
Protesters on the front line threw molotov cocktails and missiles as they continued to express their anger at the military regime, and demanded a return to civilian rule.
Security forces retaliated by firing teargas at the protesters. One of the protesters, Qadry Salah El Din, was filmed by Reuters holding up spent cartridges and explaining that he had picked them up in this street after they had been shot across the barricades.
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"In this street.... It was shot at us," El Din said.
MAKESHIFT CLINICS TREAT INJURED
Makeshift clinics have been set up and volunteers on motorbikes drove to and from the front line to get the injured treated.
Reports on social media, which could not be verified, said the area around Mohammed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square had been a flashpoint.
"Moh Mahmoud street was packed. In the space of just a few minutes the crowd stampeded twice" one observed tweeted.
Al-Jazeera's Egypt Live Blog, covers discussion around the use of tear gas and rubber bullets at Tahrir Square.
In a street corner clinic demonstrator Dina Abdullah explained why she was there.
"The solution is to bring down the military council completely because it is a key part of the Mubarak regime," said Abdullah.
"All corrupt people whose hands are drenched with the blood of the martyrs should have their hands and heads cut off. Because they might be the reason for new martyrs," she continued.
Earlier on Tuesday Egypt's army chief, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, promised to hand over power to a civilian president by July 2012. He also made a conditional offer for an immediate end to army rule.
But this did little to appease protesters.
TANTAWI: ELECTIONS BY JUNE 2012
Egypt's military ruler says presidential elections will be held by end of June 2012, and that a referendum on the immediate transfer of power will be organised if necessary.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted, said in a televised address that he had accepted the cabinet's resignation, a week before crucial parliamentary elections which he said would be held on schedule.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces "does not aspire to hold power and is fully willing to transfer responsibility immediately should the people wish it, through a popular referendum if necessary", Tantawi said.
He said the council had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet and had "tasked it to carry on working until a new government is formed ... to handle the transition in co-operation with the Supreme Council".
Tantawi said his council was also committed to holding parliamentary elections on schedule on November 28 and to "electing a president of the republic by the end of June 2012"
'TANTAWI IS MUBARAK COPY PASTED'
As news of the statement filtered into Cairo's Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands attended an anti-military rally, protesters began to chant against Tantawi.
"The people want the downfall of the Field Marshal" they chanted, just blocks away from clashes near the interior ministry on the outskirts of the square.
"We can't trust what he says. The ball has been in SCAF's court for months, and they didn't do anything," said Ibtisam al-Hamalawy, 50.
"Tantawi is Mubarak copy pasted," said another protester Ahmed Mamduh, 35.
"It's like Mubarak's speech. Tantawi has to go. That's all there is to it," said Abdel Rahman Ibrahim, a young member of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood.
Tens of thousands had gathered in Tahrir Square on Tuesday after days of deadly clashes between police and protesters demanding democratic change.
At least 28 people have died in the clashes and hundreds have been injured, according to the health ministry.
AMNESTY SLAMS MILTARY COUNCIL
In a stinging verdict on nine months of army control, rights group Amnesty International accused the military council of brutality sometimes exceeding that of the Mubarak regime.
It said the military had made only empty promises to improve human rights. Military courts have tried thousands of civilians, emergency law has been extended and torture has continued in army custody.
