Egypt has been hit by another wave of major violence ahead of parliamentary elections after security forces opened fire on thousands of protesters demonstrating against the military junta. 
 
 Two people were reported dead and more than 600 injured in central Cairo after riot police sent volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and "birdshot" pellet cartridges into the crowds. The clashes put further pressure on the ruling generals and cast doubt on the ability of police to secure the poll, scheduled to begin on 28 November. 
 
 "All options are on the table, but right now – given the state Egypt is in – nobody can see how the military council can pull off these elections," said Mahmoud Salem, a prominent blogger who is running for parliament but who has now frozen his campaign. "I'm at the international eye hospital at the moment with my friend Malek Mustafa, who has been shot in the head by police with a pellet cartridge and looks likely to lose his eye. How can I continue?" 
 
 Mustafa was one of dozens of demonstrators left with serious head wounds during the police assault on Tahrir Square. Trouble began after riot police moved to disperse tents set up after a large rally calling on Egypt's Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf) to return the country to civilian rule. 
 
 Protesters succeeded in driving the security forces from the square and captured one of their trucks. Crowds jumped up and down on the vehicle, chanting "The interior ministry are thugs" and calling for the downfall of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the country's de facto leader since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak in February. It was later set ablaze. 
 
 By mid-afternoon police had returned to Tahrir in far larger numbers and began firing from armoured vehicles. Pro-change activists sent out calls for solidarity and as darkness fell police and the protesters saw their ranks swell. As the night wore on and control of Tahrir shifted back and forth between the security forces and demonstrators, running battles spilled down side streets and along several of downtown Cairo's most important thoroughfares. 
 
 The Observer saw heavy fighting along Talaat Harb street, a key shopping district and one of the main roads running into Tahrir Square. Street lighting was cut and amid the gloom hundreds of protesters tore up paving stones to throw at police lines, sporadically falling back as clouds of tear gas filled the air. 
 
 "The scenes are reminiscent of the Friday of Anger," said journalist and pro-change activist Hossam el-Hamalawy, referring to 28 January, the day protesters beat Mubarak's security forces off the streets during the uprising against his regime. "We are being hit with showers of US-made tear gas canisters, and I've watched with my own eyes at least five people being struck by rubber bullets." 
 
 A military police car which at one point approached the centre of the unrest was chased away by protesters, another sign of public support for the junta apparently waning. "Ordinary people are making a stronger link than ever between Scaf and the hated troops of the interior ministry," added el-Hamalawy. "The police and Scaf are revealing their true colours with this brutal attack on Egyptians. They have succeeded in only one thing today, and that is mobilising even more of Egyptian society against them." 
 
 By late evening the number of demonstrators had grown to several thousand with the arrival of the ultras – hardcore fans of Cairo's main football teams, some of whom played a significant role in the anti-regime uprising earlier this year – and some Islamist political groups, forcing police units to fall back from Tahrir where protesters quickly built barricades and fires continued to burn. 
 
 The retreat marked a significant blow to the security forces, which over the past few months have generally avoided attacking large protests, preferring to wait instead until numbers dwindle and the remaining activists can be isolated and labelled as hardcore troublemakers. On Saturday that tactic appeared to have backfired, with the police assault provoking a strong public response. 
 
 "Considering the small numbers that we had this morning, it's amazing," said Hady Kamar, a 26 year old artist who was hit twice by rubber bullets, once in the foot and once in the head. "When things looked darkest and the police had pushed us out of Tahrir, we returned in huge numbers. To see this many on the street and feel this much energy, is special. Today it feels like the revolution is back up and running, but we'll see what tomorrow brings. It's always been a day by day struggle." 
 
 Reprising many of the slogans used during mass protests against Mubarak, demonstrators vented their anger at Scaf and chanted 'Here is the revolution, nothing else'. 
 
 Many expressed scepticism about the elections, saying they were designed to entrench military control over the country, but most insisted they still wanted the vote to go ahead. "The generals want to rule Egypt, but this is our revolution," said Ahmed Mohamed, a 24-year-old accountant. "Look around you – you don't see different political parties or rival candidates, you just see the Egyptian people. People have come down from their homes to join the fight; we are battling the remnants of Mubarak's regime who remain in power at the moment, and both this and the elections are all part of that same process." 
 
 Solidarity rallies also erupted in the large cities of Alexandria and Suez. Egypt's interior ministry claimed its forces had acted with restraint, and blamed protesters for escalating tensions so close the parliamentary vote. 
 
 On Friday a group of prominent intellectuals, including former UN nuclear weapons chief Mohamed ElBaradei, unveiled an alternative transition plan which would involve postponing the parliamentary ballot and wresting executive control of Egypt away from the armed forces whilst a new constitution is drawn up. 
 
 The ruling generals have yet to respond to the proposal. ||||| 1 of 6. Egyptian riot police clash with protesters at Tahrir Square in Cairo November 19, 2011. 
 
 CAIRO (Reuters) - At least one person was killed and more than 650 wounded in clashes between riot police and protesters in Cairo's Tahrir square on Saturday, official said, after a protest demanding the ruling military transfer power swiftly to a civilian government. 
 
 Protests also erupted in other cities, including Alexandria and Suez, witnesses said. 
 
 Egypt holds its first parliamentary election, from November 28, since president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising in February and parties and the ruling military are jostling for position. 
 
 Police pulled down the tents of about 100 protesters who had camped in the square overnight after a demonstration on Friday of about 50,000 people, mostly Islamists, against the military leadership. 
 
 That prompted around 5,000 protesters to return to the square and clashes erupted. Police fired rubber bullets and buildings and two cars in the square were set on fire, witnesses said. A third vehicle, close to the Arab League's headquarters, was also on fire. 
 
 "The people want to topple the regime!" hundreds of youths chanted as they rushed toward a line of police. 
 
 State news agency MENA cited the health ministry's spokesman as saying 676 people had been hurt and Ahmed Mahmoud, a 23-year-old demonstrator, died in hospital after being shot. 
 
 Riot police, who used tear gas to clear the area in the early evening, later fired more tear gas at protesters who had regained control of the square, witnesses said. Police beat protesters with batons while protesters broke off chunks of cement from sidewalks to throw at the police. 
 
 "We are fighting them non-stop," shouted one protester. 
 
 Egyptian state television said Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called on protesters in Tahrir to clear the square. 
 
 The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said it "denounced the break-up of the Tahrir sit-in by force. (This is) reminiscent of the practices of the defunct regime's Interior Ministry." 
 
 The April 6th Youth Movement said it opposed the use of force against peaceful protesters and demanded the interior minister quit. 
 
 The demonstrators denounced Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt's ruling military council, while some criticised the Muslim Brotherhood, whom they accused of working to further their own political ends. 
 
 "We are not political parties and we hate the Brotherhood who gave up on the revolution and the people," Medhat Fawzy said. "We are Egyptian youth," he added, flashing victory signs and chanting "down down Tantawi." 
 
 In the northern port city of Alexandria demonstrators chanted against the military council: "This is their understanding of change, they beat our brothers in Tahrir!" 
 
 In the eastern city of Suez, protesters tore down banners of members of Mubarak's disbanded National Democratic Party who are running in the election. 
 
 "TROUBLEMAKERS" 
 
 State television said 40 of the wounded were police officers and said "18 troublemakers" had been arrested. 
 
 Friday's rally appeared to be the biggest Islamist challenge to military rule since the largely secular uprising that toppled Mubarak. The demonstration was mostly comprised of Brotherhood members and their harder-line Salafi rivals. 
 
 Protesters expressed anger at a draft constitution that Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Silmi showed to political groups earlier this month which would give the army exclusive authority over its internal affairs and budget. 
 
 The election could be disrupted if parties and the government fail to resolve the row over the draft constitution that had denied parliamentary oversight of the army, potentially allowing it to defy an elected government. 
 
 As clashes raged in Tahrir square, al-Silmi and the Brotherhood appeared to be negotiating, through press statements and the state news agency, on percentages of members of parliament (MPs) needed to approve the assembly that will write the constitution. 
 
 MENA reported that al-Silmi had amended some clauses of the constitutional proposal, including one to say Egypt is a "democratic state" instead of "democratic civil state," a move likely to anger liberals who fear that a parliamentary majority could seek to turn Egypt into an Islamic state. 
 
 Al-Silmi said the committee chosen to write the constitution would not be confined to the larger groups in parliament to ensure "a constitution that reflects national consensus and receives the consent of all segments of society." 
 
 Political analyst Ezzedine Fishere said he did not expect the amendments to appease Islamist groups. 
 
 "(Islamists) see that they will get a majority in parliament and hence want total freedom in choosing the constitutional committee and writing the constitution," he said. 
 
 Analysts say Islamists could win 40 percent of parliament seats, with a big portion going to the Brotherhood. 
 
 "What is happening now is a showdown between the two factions ... an on-the-ground confrontation with each party trying to enforce its will, the military council from one end and the Islamist currents from the other," Fishere said. 
 
 MENA reported that al-Silmi had amended the constitutional proposal to say members of the constituent assembly writing the constitution would be chosen by a "majority" of elected MPs instead of his earlier announcement that they would be chosen by a "two-thirds majority." 
 
 (Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed, Marwa Awad, Omar Fahmy, Patrick Werr, Tamim Elyan and Abdel Rahman Youssef; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
– So much for peaceful transitions of power in Syria and Egypt, where regime forces brutally cracked down on protesters today. In Syria, the day after officials agreed "in principle" to let the Arab League oversee a peace process, troops invaded a region near the Turkish border and a town in search of government opponents. One civilian was reported killed. Troops also gunned down two army defectors near the Lebanese border, the AP reports. In Egypt, just 9 days before national elections, troops opened fire on thousands of demonstrators in Tahrir Square. Some 500 were wounded with rubber bullets, Reuters reports (see their compelling video here.) The fighting erupted when troops moved in to remove tents set up by protesters, after last night's 50,000-strong rally opposing military rule, the Guardian reports. "We are being hit with showers of US-made tear gas canisters, and I've watched with my own eyes at least five people being struck by rubber bullets," says one protester.