Egyptian protesters set cars alight and threw stones at military police in Cairo, after rumors spread that an activist had been detained at a sit-in and badly beaten near the parliamentary building.
Police fired in the air shortly after dawn on Friday to try to disperse around 300 demonstrators, who were angered by images posted online that appeared to show the activist badly beaten after his arrest, witnesses told the Reuters news agency.
The activist, identified by other protesters as Abboudi Ibrahim, was arrested as he left the sit-in outside the cabinet office in central Cairo.
Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reporting from Cairo said: "This sit-in has been going on for weeks in protest against the military."
"Rumors are circulating that a protester was taken inside the parliamentary building and beaten up," said our reporter.
"The rumor is they beat him up badly and he is in hospital," said a doctor at a field hospital set up to treat injured demonstrators. "This led people to go down to protest."
A security source told Reuters several people were injured in the clashes.
PHOTO CAPTION
Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration against the Egyptian military council in Tahrir square in Cairo December 2, 2011.
Al-Jazeera