Egypt is frayed, bloody and slipping toward a new revolt.The clashes that erupted for the second day in a row Sunday between police and protesters are the most volatile challenge in months to the nation's military leaders. The anger glimpsed through the tear gas and on the bruised faces of demonstrators marked a dangerous chasm between the Egyptian people and the generals who have refused to relinquish power to a civilian government.What is unfolding in the streets of Cairo, Suez and the coastal city of Alexandria is the compounded anger over the unrealized promise of a revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February but has yet to steer the country toward a new democracy. Five people have been killed across the nation, including three Sunday in Cairo's Tahrir Square, and more than 1,000 have been injured since violence broke out on Saturday.Security forces and military police, swinging batons, firing birdshot and driving armored personnel carriers, stormed the square late Sunday afternoon, chasing out protesters and burning tents. The troops quickly retreated and growing ranks of demonstrators returned to the area, yelling epithets against the military as darkness fell. Protesters numbered as many as 20,000 before midnight."We are on the brink of danger. Those asking for the government to fall are asking for the state to fall," Gen. Mohsen Fangary said in a TV interview.But at times, the military appears in denial, as if the deepening discontent against it can be placated or ignored in the run-up to next week's parliamentary elections.The military is not ready to cede the country's future to an array of political interests, including remnants of the old regime and the dominant Muslim Brotherhood. These forces mistrust one another but they — along with thousands of idle, angry young men — have banded against what they all regard as the larger enemy in the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.But political parties, especially Islamist groups, face a dilemma: They want to tap into the spirit of the protests but do not want violence to jeopardize the country's first significant elections in decades. The Muslim Brotherhood did not endorse the demonstrations but condemned security forces for the bloody crackdown. The ultraconservative Gamaa al Islamiya group told its followers now is "not a suitable time" to take to the streets."I should be at work," said Ashraf Hamed, a food vendor who joined Sunday's rally in Tahrir Square. "But I suffered from life under Mubarak and I refuse to continue suffering and keep watching injustices being done to our revolution."Broken glass, stones and bullet casings littered the square as about 4,000 protesters gathered while riot police battled others on side streets and protected the nearby Interior Ministry. The April 6 Youth Movement and an ultraconservative Islamist presidential candidate announced their support of the protest, but the majority of the demonstrators appeared not to belong to political parties or activist groups."I was against the idea of a sit-in but when I saw the police brutality against demonstrators on TV yesterday I decided to come and join them," said Adel Kassem, a university professor. "These people here are the real Egyptians, without any politicians or banners of Muslim Brotherhood or anyone else who has tried to hijack the revolution."The clashes began early Saturday when several hundred protesters attempted a sit-in after a huge anti-military rally on Friday. The violence resumed Sunday as military helicopters skimmed overhead and shops and businesses closed."Leave, leave just like Mubarak!" protesters chanted."Down with the field marshal!" yelled others, referring to Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, leader of the armed forces.The police and the military are "doing their best to hinder elections while at the same time falsely showing everyone that the revolution will bring change and democracy," said Ali Shahin, a businessman. "But this is all fake. They want to show that the country is not ready for democracy so they make the changes they want."The military expanded martial law in September and has been intent on preventing activists from retaking Tahrir Square, which they occupied during the revolt against Mubarak. But the generals face the prospect of possibly provoking widespread bloodshed and unrest that could draw tens of thousands into the streets amid the political turmoil already surrounding the run-up to parliamentary elections on Nov. 28."Do not leave the square. This square will lead the way from now on," Hazem Salah abu Ismail, the ultraconservative Islamist presidential candidate, told demonstrators. "Tomorrow the whole of Egypt will follow your lead."Egypt has stumbled from the so-called Arab Spring's great inspiration to its lingering disappointment. The euphoric 18 days that led to Mubarak's downfall have been clouded by divisions between secularists and Islamists and by the military, which has repeatedly delayed transition to civilian rule. The generals are reviled by activists but their wide support in the provinces allows them a tight grip on the nation.The most recent violence was sparked by an attempt by the military to consolidate its power by enshrining a larger role for itself in a new constitution. Late Saturday, amid the rising protests, the generals amended the proposals in an effort to calm activists and the Muslim Brotherhood. That kind of appeasement worked in the past, but did little to contain the outrage of the last two days.The nation is unlikely to find respite soon. The military announced that it would not postpone elections. The voting could trigger more bloodshed and is certain to exacerbate differences between liberals and the Muslim Brotherhood, which could win at least 30% of the seats in parliament. Secularists and the military fear the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups are determined to press for a government deeply rooted in, or Islamic law.But, in the short term, the parliament will ultimately be accountable to the ruling military council. A full transfer of power to civilian control is not expected until a president is elected late next year or in 2013. This scenario is certain to lead to more protests even as Egypt struggles with a downward spiraling economy and a shrinking tourism industry.This was on the minds of many in Tahrir Square. Like Kassem, the university professor, they mirrored the Egyptians who protested last winter — not politically driven, just fed up. Kassem stood Sunday amid scorched tires and the tang of tear gas not far from a makeshift hospital in a mosque and a few tents erected in the square's central garden."Mubarak's thieves headed by Tantawi stole our revolution, so did groups using religion," he said. "The ruling system remains the same as it was under Mubarak, practicing the same stupidity as Mubarak's men did." ||||| CAIRO (Reuters) - Cairo police fought protesters demanding an end to army rule for a third day on Monday and the death toll rose to 33, with many victims shot, in the worst violence since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. 
 
 As midnight approached, about 20,000 people packed Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-Mubarak revolt early this year, and thousands more milled around in surrounding streets. 
 
 "The people want the fall of the marshal," they chanted, referring to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's defense minister for two decades and head of the army council. 
 
 In a late-night statement, the ruling council urged calm and called for crisis talks with political forces to find a way forward. The council voiced its "deep regret for the victims in these painful incidents", state news agency MENA said. 
 
 "It called on all sections of the nation to show the greatest degree of self-restraint so that the matter does not lead to more victims and casualties," the agency added. 
 
 The military council did not say whether it would accept the resignation of the cabinet, tendered on Sunday. A military source said it was seeking agreement on a new prime minister. 
 
 The resignation of the cabinet, in office since March, was another blow to the military council's authority and casts further uncertainty on Egypt's first free parliamentary elections in decades, which are due to start next Monday. 
 
 Clashes flared in side-streets near Tahrir. Witnesses said looters, not necessarily connected to the protests, had attacked the American University in Cairo and other buildings. 
 
 Security forces also battled about 4,000 demonstrators in the port city of Ismailiya on the Suez Canal, witnesses said. Tear gas was also fired at about 2,000 protesters in the northern coastal city of Alexandria. 
 
 BULLET WOUNDS 
 
 Protesters have brandished bullet casings in Tahrir Square, where police used batons and tear gas to try to disperse demonstrators on Saturday. Police deny using live fire. 
 
 Medical sources at Cairo's main morgue said 33 corpses had been received since Saturday, most with bullet wounds. The Health Ministry put the toll at 24 dead and 1,250 wounded. 
 
 "I've seen the police beat women my mother's age. I want military rule to end," said protester Mohamed Gamal, 21. 
 
 Army generals were feted for their part in easing Mubarak out, but hostility to their rule has hardened since, especially over attempts to set new constitutional principles that would keep the military permanently beyond civilian control. 
 
 Police attacked a makeshift hospital in Tahrir Square after dawn but were driven back by protesters hurling chunks of concrete from smashed pavements, witnesses said. 
 
 "Don't go out there, you'll end up martyrs like the others," protesters told people emerging from a metro station at Tahrir Square. 
 
 The violence casts a pall over the first round of Egypt's staggered and complex election process, which starts on November 28 in Cairo and elsewhere. The army says the polls will go ahead. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL CONCERN 
 
 The United States called for restraint on all sides and urged Egypt to proceed with elections despite the violence. 
 
 "The United States continues to believe that these tragic events should not stand in the way of elections," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. 
 
 European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton echoed that message and said the EU was keen to monitor the polls. 
 
 "The Egyptian authorities have been very clear that they wish to conduct these elections themselves. We believe it would give credibility to them to have international observation," she told British lawmakers in London. 
 
 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the loss of life and called on the transitional authorities "to guarantee the protection of human rights and civil liberties for all Egyptians, including the right to peaceful protest". 
 
 In an apparent sop to protesters, the army council issued a law to bar from political life "those who work to corrupt political life and damage the interests of the nation". 
 
 The announcement was unlikely to satisfy political parties and activists who have called for a blanket ban on former members of Mubarak's now defunct National Democratic Party. 
 
 "The council is out of step with the people," said activist Mohamed Fahmy, describing the new law as a "meaningless move". 
 
 Some Egyptians, including Islamists who expect to do well in the vote, say the ruling army council may be stirring insecurity to prolong its rule, a charge the military denies. 
 
 Political uncertainty has gripped Egypt since Mubarak's fall, while sectarian clashes, labor unrest, gas pipeline sabotage and a gaping absence of tourists have paralysed the economy and prompted a widespread yearning for stability. 
 
 ECONOMIC WOES 
 
 The instability could accelerate Egypt's slide toward a currency crisis, forcing a sharp depreciation of the Egyptian pound in the next few months and conceivably prompting Cairo to impose capital controls, analysts said. 
 
 "The violence and political noise is going to erode whatever confidence was left in the Egyptian economy, and may result ... in an acceleration of capital outflows," said Farouk Soussa, Middle East chief economist at Citigroup. 
 
 The military plans to keep its presidential powers until a new constitution is drawn up and a president is elected in late 2012 or early 2013. Protesters want a much swifter transition. 
 
 The army said on Monday it had intervened in central Cairo to protect the Interior Ministry, not to clear demonstrators from nearby Tahrir Square, whom it also offered to protect. 
 
 The Interior Ministry, in charge of a police force widely hated for its heavy-handed tactics in the anti-Mubarak revolt, has been a target for protesters demanding police reform. 
 
 The latest street clashes show the depth of frustration, at least in Cairo and some other cities, at the pace of change. 
 
 Liberal groups are dismayed by the military trials of thousands of civilians and the army's failure to scrap a hated emergency law. Islamists eyeing a strong showing in the next parliament suspect the army wants to curtail their influence. 
 
 Analysts say Islamists could win 40 percent of assembly seats, with a big portion going to the Muslim Brotherhood. 
 
 The Revolution Youth Coalition, an activist group, called for a "million-man march" in Tahrir on Tuesday to back demands for a new national salvation government to run the country in the transition phase, instead of the military council. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Tim Castle in London, Alister Bull and Steve Holland in Washington and Andrew Torchia in Dubai; writing by Alistair Lyon)
– Protesters in Egypt have held on to Tahrir Square after the latest round of clashes with police, which in three days have left 22 dead throughout the country. Police burned banners and assaulted a field hospital in a raid beginning last night; protesters threw pieces of pavement at authorities; and in unconfirmed Internet videos, protesters were beaten with sticks by police, who appeared to toss a body on a heap of trash. An apparent fire in a nearby apartment building left a woman calling for help, but police shot tear gas at those below, Reuters reports. Though demonstrators were temporarily driven from the square yesterday, they soon returned ahead of another police raid, and the Los Angeles Times reports their ranks grew to 20,000 by midnight. The unrest may complicate the country's plan to hold its first free parliamentary elections in decades; the staggered vote is due to begin next Monday, though Reuters notes that the army will retain its hold on presidential powers until a presidential poll is held, which may not happen until about a year from now; protesters object to that timeline.