In Washington, senior political figures have been admitting that the Egyptian uprising caught out US intelligence.
John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, questioned why assessments by US intelligence did not appear to be ahead of the upheaval, although the Republican politician said the Obama administration responded appropriately to the crisis.
"I think there's going to have to be a reassessment of why didn't we have a better feel for this," he said during an appearance on NBC.
The former Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, has also been talking about how the uprising caught the US political and military elite on the hop.
Asked during an appearance on CBS if there had been an intelligence failure or a misunderstanding, he pointed to "a failure to realize that a sophisticated, educated, freedom-yearning people, sooner or later, were going to demand their rights."
That's all from us for now folks, but please join us again when this blog picks up on covering events again on Monday.
Screengrab from www.twitter.com
Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who played a key role in the protests across Egypt, has been tweeting about his activities tonight.
Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, has been musing about Egypt on his weekly television show and scoffed at suggestions that his 12-year rule was at risk of an uprising like that which toppled Hosni Mubarak.
"I laugh when some clever analysts from the Venezuelan opposition try to compare my government with that of ex-president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt," Chavez said during his regular "Hello, President!" show.
"They're crazy, they're wrong, they have no sense."
"There, yes, there was a real dictatorship, and more than half of the population living in poverty, in extreme poverty, that's the fundamental cause," Chavez said of Egypt.
This is Ben Quinn taking over Live Blog duties from Haroon this evening.
The organizers of a pro-reform protest that brought thousands of Algerians onto the streets of their capital over this weekend have called for another rally next week.
The Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria an umbrella group for human rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others has called for the Feb. 19 demonstrations to take place throughout the country.
Here's a summary of events so far today:
Egypt's new military announced that they are dissolving the parliament and suspending the constitution (2.08pm). They said they will run the country for six months or until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held. A further communique is expected today in which the military leaders are expected to announce curbs on strikes and "chaos and disorder". (3.14pm)
Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said the current cabinet, appointed by Hosni Mubarak, would remain in place to oversee the transition to democracy.
There were scuffles as the army tried to force protesters to leave Tahrir Square (10.24am). Soldiers tore down tents in the square and some used sticks against people. But a number of protesters refused to leave and others streamed into the square to join them (11.07am) and maintain the pressure for all their demands for reform to be met.
Two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun are among 18 items missing from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, the antiquities minister Zahi Hawass said today. He had previously said nothing had been stolen during the disturbances that occurred in the midst of the anti-government protests (11.03am).
Police officers have been protesting against their wages and clashed with soldiers outside the interior ministry (11.16am). In a remarkable turnaround of events, officers also marched through Tahrir Square, expressing their solidarity with the people they had cracked down on in the first week of the anti-Mubarak protests. Other workers, including public transport workers, employees of the National Bank of Egypt and oil workers, have also been on strike.
The organisers of protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak have called for a "march of victory" across Egypt on Friday, Reuters reports, quoting leading activist Khaled Abdelkader Ouda.
"We salute the armed forces for their serious steps to meet the demands of the people," said Ouda, referring to steps announced by Egypt's military rulers on Sunday including the dissolution of parliament. Ouda is seen as a prospective member of a council, the members of which he said would be announced on Friday. The council is being set up to guard "the people's revolution". "We call on Egyptians to do their part and give the army a chance to proceed with the next stage," he said. "We call for a Friday march of victory in the millions across Egypt to celebrate the gains of the revolution. We will announce the members of the council of trustees on Friday."
Screengrab from www.twitter.com
Amid the unrest of the past 20 days tourist visits to Egypt have plummeted but now the Egyptian people have ousted Mubarak out they are trying to encourage visitors to their country, using the hashtag #Come2Egypt, on Twitter. -
Egypt's main internet service providers will refund customers for the interruption in web access two weeks ago during the early days of the country's uprising, Reuters reports, quoting the Egyptian state news agency.
Access to the Internet was cut off from January 28 until February 2 in an effort to quash the pro-democracy protest movement which eventually forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign on Friday.
Vodafone (VOD.L), Etisalat (ETEL.AD), Telecom Egypt's (ETEL.CA) TE Data, and Mobinil's (EMOB.CA) LinkDotNet would grant customers who suffered from the interruption a free half-month of service, the news agency MENA said.
Mubarak's exit has not been enough to clear people out of Tahrir Square, nor has it been enough to persuade all workers to call off their strikes.
I've already mentioned the police walk-out but some 2,000 employees of the National Bank of Egypt have also been on strike today, reports Ahram online. It says they want the resignation of the bank's directors and restructuring of the wages within the company.
The journalist and blogger Hossam El-Hamalawy has also been tweeting details of various strikes, including by oil workers, public transport workers and environment ministry civil servants.
The impending curbs on dissent (see 3.14pm) are set to be released in another military communique (number 5), due to be released today.
Although the happenings in Egypt are of global import, full marks to the Basingstoke Gazette for finding a local angle. I'm not sure whether Huw Jenkins will be dining out on this story but the plasterer has revealed to his local paper, that he is related to Hosni Mubarak:
Huw Jenkins' mum is the cousin of President Hosni Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, who is part Welsh... The Mubarak clan are reputedly worth between £25billion and £45bn, according to recent estimates, and live a lavish lifestyle with residences across the globe.
By contrast, their unassuming relative lives in a three-bedroom terraced house in Harlech Close, Winklebury, with his wife Paula, 44,and supports his three children through his job as a plasterer.Mr Jenkins, 47, who met the ruler in the 1980s, is a second cousin of Mrs Mubarak, 69.
He said: "I only met them once, in London, when I was about 16 in the early 80s when he had just become president.
"I still remember that day and it's something I know that I'll never forget. My parents had told me about who the couple were and I was aware that he was a very powerful man, but he wasn't intimidating.
"He came across as friendly and was very pleasant. He was meeting with ambassadors so he spent a lot of the time in meetings but it was interesting to meet the family.
"To be honest, being related to the president is not something I think about a lot, but recent events have made me think about it a little more."
Reuters has an interesting round up of reaction to the military's announcement that it is dissolving parliament and suspending the constitution.
AYMAN NOUR, OPPOSITION ACTIVIST
"It is a victory for the revolution. I think this will satisfy the protesters. This resolution satisfies the Egyptian street, especially the part related to dissolving the parliament and shura council, and I think we are facing a new situation starting from today. We must have dialogue with the military council about putting a temporary, constitutional document to manage affairs in the transitional period."HASSAN ABU TALEB, AL-AHRAM CENTRE FOR POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES
"The army has started using 'revolutionary legitimacy' as a basis for its actions. The army's commitment to a civilian and freely elected government, parliament, and an open space for political parties is a good sign. But there are many questions still. Who will be in this committee and what kind of role will the military play in drafting the new constitution? Will their role in the new constitution give them roles as ones given to the military in Turkey? There are still a lot of grey areas but it is clear that these decisions are opening the door for an entirely new system to come to order."ABDULLAH HELMY, OF THE "YOUTH REVOLUTION UNION"
"The people have won. The youth of the revolution would like to thank the armed forced for their speedy response to our demands. The system has fallen and now we will get ready for reform."HISHAM KASSEM, RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND PUBLISHER
"It seems to be the only way out. It might not be very political in the sense that I worry about the outcome of an election. The pattern is that the most powerful families always win the elections. The National Democratic Party (NDP) made sure their members were in it. These same families will win again with new faces, but via what political groups? The NDP has completely collapsed, no one will run on that platform. The party will completely collapse soon. (Six months) could be tough, and it's not easy to draft a constitution."MAHMOUD NASSAR, PROTESTER IN TAHRIR SQUARE
"The army has moved far along to meet the people's demands and we urge it to release all political prisoners who were taken before and after the January 25 revolution. Only then will we call off the protests."CROWDS IN TAHRIR SQUARE
"Victory! Victory."SAMY SAYYID, ACTIVIST AND PROTESTER IN TAHRIR SQUARE
"The immediate release of political prisoners is needed. They must be freed! We will only be safe when they are out."AHMED ABDEL AZIZ, 39, PROTESTER IN TAHRIR SQUARE
"The coward is a coward and the brave are brave. We stuck to the last day and we won and watch out for more victories to the brave people of Egypt."
Army trys to clear away protesters in Tahrir Square Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian
-
Reuters reports that the military is about to get tough with protesters, in a move that risks fresh confrontation:
Egypt's new military rulers will issue a warning on Sunday against anyone who creates "chaos and disorder", an army source said.
The Higher Military Council will also ban meetings by labour unions or professional syndicates, effectively forbidding strikes, and tell all Egyptians to get back to work after the unrest that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
Shadi Hamid, from the Brookings Institution has been tweeting about the Muslim Brotherhood, who he says have positioned themselves well during the protests. People who have been following the events of the past 20 days closely will recall that the Muslim Brotherhood were widely viewed as having missed the boat as a result of their initial reluctance to support/join the protests. But Hamid tweets:
Apparently, the Muslim Brotherhood met with the army earlier and came on the same page #jan25 #egypt
Muslim brotherhood is now effectively a legal entity after being banned for decades #jan25 #egypt
MB youth leader telling me that Ibrahim Zafarani, leading MB reformist, is talking abt forming political party #jan25
The Brotherhood is coming out of this looking like a smart, responsible party. For once, their caution worked to their advantage #jan25
In Sudan, women have held a vigil calling for the release of men detained during protests. From the Guardian's story:
Women held a vigil outside Sudan's security service headquarters in Khartoum, calling for the release of men arrested during a series of protests inspired by Egypt's uprising.
In another part of the Sudanese capital, security officers prevented journalists from gathering to take part in a protest against the arrest of colleagues, a Reuters witness said. Officers detained five TV cameramen and photographers trying to cover the event.
Young men have held a series of small protests across north Sudan in recent weeks against price rises and human rights abuses. Some websites and protesters have called for regime change.
There have been clashes between anti-government protesters and police in Yemen. From the Guardian's story:
Several thousand protesters, many of them university students, tried to reach the central square in the capital, Sana'a, but were pushed back by police using truncheons.
The fall of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, has emboldened protesters in Yemen and raised questions about the country's stability and other western-allied governments in the region. Saleh has been in power for three decades and has tried to defuse the unrest by promising not to run for re-election in 2013.
Witnesses in Sana'a said several protesters were injured and 23 were detained by police in Sunday's clashes. They said plainclothes police officers holding daggers and sticks joined the security forces in driving the protesters back.
The Egyptian dissident Ayman Nour, who was jailed after standing against standing against Mubarak for the presidency in 2005, has told Reuters the announcement by military leaders (2.08pm) should satisfy protesters. He said: "It is a victory for the revolution."
But not all activists share his views, with many expressing concerns on Twitter:
No word from generals about incorporation of CIVILIAN voices on ruling council for next 6 months. Disturbing... #Egypt #jan25
So, recap: There is no President, No VP, No constitution, No Parliament, but we are not in charge....Yay? #jan25
The one thing the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is failing to do is giving any sort of timeline for anything.. #Jan25
The military said they will run the country for six months, or until presidential and parliament elections can be held.
Egypt's military rulers have dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. The announcement came in their latest public statement.
Here's a summary of events so far today:
There were scuffles as the army tried to force protesters to leave Tahrir Square (10.24am). Soldiers tore down tents in the square and some used sticks against people. But a number of protesters refused to leave and others have now been streaming into the square to join them (11.07am) and maintain the pressure for all their demands for reform to be met.
There will be no immediate reshuffle of the Egyptian cabinet, which was appointed by Mubarak and is still full of the ex-president's allies, it was announced today (10.58am). Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said, after the cabinet's first meeting, that it would stay in place until the transition to democracy was complete. He also said restoring security would be a priority.
Two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun are among 18 items missing from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, the antiquities minister Zahi Hawass said today. He had previously said nothing had been stolen during the disturbances that occurred in the midst of the anti-government protests (11.03am).
Police officers have been protesting against their wages and clashed with soldiers outside the interior ministry (11.16am). In a remarkable turnaround of events, officers also marched through Tahrir Square, expressing their solidarity with the people they had cracked down on in the first week of the anti-Mubarak protests.
There seems to be some confusion about which public figure has actually been asked to serve as minister of information by the prime minister (see 1.04pm).
Ayman Mohyeldin is now saying it is not Amr Adib but his brother, Emad Adib, described by al-Ahram as "Egypt's Larry King".
Al-Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin is presumably at the prime minister's press conference as he has just tweeted:
Egypt PM tv personality Amr adib is being asked to serve as minister of information tho he wants ministry abolished. All options remain
Here's a brief online profile of Amr Adib:
Amr Adib (also spelled Adeeb) (Arabic: عمرو أديب) is an Egyptian television presenter and interviewer. He is known for being a media personality known for his sense of humour. Adib presents good insight into what interests Arab audiences, however diverse it may be, and broaches many previously taboo subjects in Egypt (e.g., religion, sex, dating, etc.)
He currently presents El Qahira El Yawm, a popular Arab live television talk show from Cairo, which airs on the El Yawm Channel which is part of the Orbit Satellite and Television Network. The show is watched across the Arab World and Europe, even reaching as far as Australia and the US.
Claims that new ministers were appointed to the ministry of information hurriedly are "baseless", says prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.
Egyptian state TV, and hence al-Jazeera, appears to have stopped its transmission of the speech for some reason, even though it clearly was not over.
Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq is now speaking. The country could be affected if the protests continue but Egypt is currently "stable and satisfactory".
"Our main concern is how to restore security to the Egyptian citizens."
The cabinet wants to "restore our normal way of life".
There might be slight delays of freight because of protests in the streets but they should not be serious.
After restoring "discipline" the government will look at education projects.
All affairs of state are on the table but need to be reprioritised.
Certain cabinet posts are still vacant but "we are not in a hurry". Shafiq and his colleagues are examining candidates, he says. No minister will be appointed unless he is "thoroughly examined". There is no need to be concerned.
A Google spreadsheet has been created to try to help track down the regime's assets. There's not much in it at the moment but people are being encouraged to contribute to it and the idea is that a website will eventually be created, using documents and evidence provided by people.
While the scuffles in Tahrir Square do not appear to have been too serious so far there are slightly ominous signals coming out of the plaza:
Army filming remaining protestors in tahrir #Jan25
Was almost kidnapped in Tahrir square standing with very simple, brave Egyptians refusing to leave sit in. Tonight will be violent #Egypt
Egypt has imposed travel bans on 43 former and current ministers, Al Masry al Youm reports. It says the list includes:
Mufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs
Anas al-Fiqqi, minister of information
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the minister of foreign affairs
Mamdouh Marei, minister of justice
Abdel Salam al-Mahgoub, minister of local development
Hatem al-Gabaly, minister of health
Mohamed Nasr Eddin Allam, minister of water resources and irrigation.
There has been an interesting response on Twitter to the news that antiquities, including two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun, were stolen from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, during the protests (see 11.03am), as revealed by the antiquities minister Zahi Hawass. People are pointing the finger of blame at Hawass and planning a demonstration against him.
A protest will be held on Wednesday to ask for the resignation of Zahi Hawass. More details coming soon.
Ezzedine Choukri, a professor of international politics at the American University in Cairo, has just been on al-Jazeera, warning that the retention of Mubarak's cabinet (see 10.58am) will not sit well with the protesters.
I don't see how these ministers can govern with any legitimacy or authority...The question is how long the military is planning to keep this government in place.
He said that more people would return to the streets in protest if a representative transition government was not put in place soon.
Police officers, some in uniform, are marching through Tahrir Square chanting that the people and the police are one.
It was the police, of course, who were used to crackdown on the protesters in the first week of the demonstrations.
The UK government is under pressure to freeze any assets of Mubarak held in the UK, the Press Association reports.
The former president is reported to have amassed a family fortune worth billions of dollars held in British and Swiss banks and tied up in property in London, New York and Los Angeles. The Swiss authorities have already announced that they are freezing his assets held in their country, and former foreign office minister Lord Malloch-Brown urged the UK to follow suit.
"I think it would be a very prudent thing to do to freeze suspicious accounts here because it will take a new government quite a while to mount some kind of legal claim on them," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show. "It would be a real pity if when they did the money had gone. I think it would be great for the reputation for the City of London if those accounts were frozen now."
Business secretary Vince Cable suggested that there was a need for an international approach, rather than the UK acting alone. "I wasn't aware that he had enormous assets here but there clearly needs to be concerted international action on this," he told The Andrew Marr Show.
"There is no point in one government acting in isolation but certainly we need to look at it. It depends also whether his funds were illegally obtained or improperly obtained."
He said that the government would take action against any British bank which was found to have acted improperly helping Mubarak to move funds during his final days in office in order to shield them from any claim by the new administration.
"I would be concerned if the banks had been engaged in anything improper," he said.
"One of the things we have done since this government got in is actually stopping the banks engaging in large-scale tax avoidance on behalf of their corporate and private customers. So the logic of that is the we would be concerned and would act if there was anything improper that had occurred."
The director of the Serious Fraud Office, Richard Alderman, indicated that they were already tracking the assets of Mubarak and the deposed Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"The public would expect us to be looking for some of this money if we became aware of it, and to try to repatriate it for the benefit of the people of those countries," he told The Sunday Times.
Leaders in Bahrain are the latest to offer concessions in a bid to stave off Egypt-style protests. From the Associated Press:
Leaders in Bahrain are promising to expand media freedoms in the tiny Gulf kingdom in apparent attempts to quell calls for protests inspired by Egypt.
The pledges Sunday to loosen state media controls come after Bahrain's king announced gifts of nearly $2,700 to each family in Bahrain a key Western ally and home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.
Opposition groups are calling for street protests Monday to demand a greater voice in state affairs. It would mark the first major demonstrations in the Gulf since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Bahrain's majority Shiite's have long complained of discrimination by the Sunni rulers. Clashes erupted last year after the arrest of Shiite activists.
Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Tony Blair, who warned about the prospect of the Muslim Brotherhood taking power, before Mubarak stood down, has now said the president's removal could be a pivotal moment in spreading democracy across the Middle East. Although he has once more praised his former ally, calling him a "force for stability". From the Press Association
The former prime minister, now a peace envoy in the region, said it was a "moment of excitement but uncertainty" and the West should engage with supporters of democracy across the Middle East. He told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "We should have a strategy of engagement with the democratic, modernising forces across the region. We should be helping countries evolve and move in the direction of change."
Blair said progress could unblock the peace process and be of "huge benefit".
He said: "This is a moment where the whole of the Middle East could pivot and face towards modernisation and democracy and that would be a huge benefit for all of us."
He acknowledged the situation in Egypt had been "fantastically destabilising" for the Palestinian Authority but if a "benign" new administration was established in Cairo it could help to support modernising elements within Palestinian politics. Blair said: "This is a region in transition. The question is where is it transiting? It can either go towards an open-minded, modern type of democracy, let's hope that it does, or it could be swung into something narrow and extreme and closed-minded.
"I think there's every possibility that we get the first and not the second and our purpose as the West should be to engage insofar as possible to bring about that more benign scenario."
Blair defended Mubarak, saying he had been a "force for stability" in the region.
"You can't invite him to the White House five months ago, and I was there with President (Barack) Obama, as a partner in peace and them simply forget all that.
"He was a force for stability in the region and in the peace process, there were economic changes in Egypt that were beneficial over the past years but, having said that, the reason why this is a moment of huge exhilaration and excitement and opportunity is that there were a whole lot of forces for democracy, for change for economic and social reform in Egypt that were held back and those are now unleashed."
Gunshots have been heard outside Egypt's interior ministry, where policemen are protesting about their wages, witnesses have told Reuters:
A security guard said they were warning shots fired in the air. The police force was pulled off the streets when they lost control of anti-government protests last month. Some have staged their own protests and sit-ins since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow on Friday, demanding higher wages and immunity from prosecution.
An update from Chris McGreal, in Tahrir Square, who confirms that more people are making their way to the central plaza:
Many more people are coming in to Tahrir square apparently in response to a call from the remaining protesters not to let the army force them out. the military had got the traffic flowing earlier today but the demonstrators are now sitting down in the road and blocking the roundabout after soldiers ripped up their tents and told them to go home.
It should be added that there is also a counter-demonstration of about 100 people, chanting at the protesters to go home.
Photograph: Martin Godwin
Two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun are among 18 items missing from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, after looters stole several items during the anti-government protests, the Associated Press reports.
On January 28, looters climbed a fire escape to the museum roof and lowered themselves on ropes from a glass pane ceiling onto the museum's top floor.
Around 70 objects were damaged, but until Sunday's announcement, it was not known whether anything was missing.
Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass said the museum's database department determined 18 objects were gone. Investigators were questioning those already in custody since the break-in last month.
There will be no major reshuffle of Egypt's cabinet, which was appointed by Mubarak, reports Reuters. That goes to the heart of the concerns of those who are still in Tahrir Square and who are demanding that the army move towards immediate transition.
Not only has the army been using force on protesters in Tahrir Square but now the demonstrators have to swallow the fact that the interim cabinet is going to be one appointed by Mubarak and therefore filled with his allies.
It sounds like the army's behaviour in Tahrir Square has provoked many people back into action, with thousands reportedly on their way to the central plaza to show solidarity with the protesters who have refused to be forced out by the army. Reuters reports:
Thousands of protesters streamed back into Tahrir Square on Sunday after the army sought to disperse them from the heart of Cairo where they have vowed to stay to hold the army to its promises of reform, witnesses said.
"The army and people are united" and "Revolution, revolution until victory," they chanted, after military police had earlier told them to take down tents and let normal life return.
As military police corralled protesters in the centre of the square to allow traffic flow, protesters in other parts of the square guided cars. Some swept the ground and others painted curbs, which protesters say shows their desire to rebuild Egypt.
Some of the prominent activists and chroniclers of the protests have already begun voicing their scepticism about the army on Twitter:
If the army does not release all those arrested since #Jan25 TODAY, I have no reason to trust them on any of their promises. #Egypt
It may seem very paranoid but what if the military played us all ?
The Guardian's Chris McGreal is in Tahrir Square where there have been scuffles between protesters and soldiers trying to remove them. He said:
"Soldiers moved into the square shortly after dawn this morning and opened it up to traffic and began pressing the protesters who remain here to take down their tents and leave. Some of them did begin to do that, the rest refused and the army then moved in and began tearing those those tents down. Then a protest began on the other side of the roundabout, right at the heart of the square, really where the original protests began] against both the army trying to force people out and also [in favour of] demands that this military government immediately move towards some civilian interim administration and and other measures such as dissolving the discredited parliament, dropping the state of emergency. And at the heart of this really is a hardcore of protesters, I mean, several thousand, [who believe] that the revolution hasn't been won yet, all that's happened is that Mubarak has left and they are intent on staying until they see a genuine change of administration."
-
A press conference from the Egyptian government is expected within the next hour. The cabinet appointed by Mubarak is expected to meet today. A spokesman said:
The shape of the government will stay until the process of transformation is done in a few months, then a new government will be appointed based on the democratic principles in place. The main task of this government is to restore security and order and also start the economic process, and to take care of day-to-day life.
There was unconfined joy on Friday when people power forced Hosni Mubarak from office after 30 years of authoritarian rule, leaving the army in charge to oversee the transition to democracy.
With the military occupying a special place in the heart of many Egyptians, protesters were happy to entrust it with such a heavy responsibility but there is widespread acknowledgement that transition will not be plain sailing.
There have already been signs of discord this morning. As so often over the past 20 days, the focus is once more on Tahrir Square, where protesters have been resisting army attempts to clear the plaza, Reuters reports:
Hundreds of Egyptian soldiers shoved pro-democracy protesters aside to force a path for traffic to start flowing through central Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday for the first time in more than two weeks.
Protesters chanted "Peacefully, peacefully" as the soldiers and military police in red berets moved in to disperse them. Scuffles broke out and some soldiers lashed out with sticks.
The military police chief told protesters to clear tents from the square and not to disrupt traffic.
"We do not want any protesters to sit in the square after today," Mohamed Ibrahim Moustafa Ali, the head of military police, told protesters and reporters, as soldiers removed tents from the square.
The army has said it respects the demands of protesters, whose mass action drove Hosni Mubarak from power. But it has also called on them to go home and let normal life resume.
Protests erupted on Jan. 25 and traffic stopped flowing through Tahrir after Jan. 28. The square became the epicentre of nationwide demonstrations, with many protesters camping there.
The early morning violence did not last long, but the army action, backed by dozens of military police, split demonstrators who had previously controlled the square into smaller groups.
"In the square, in the square, we demand our rights in the square," some chanted as soldiers corralled the crowd.
About 2,000 demonstrators remained in the square and some tents were still pitched in the grassy central area.
Although Mubarak's resignation on Saturday met the key demand of protesters, many said they planned to stay in the square to ensure the military council now in charge of Egypt made way for civilian rule and democracy as it had promised.
Protesters demand the abolition of emergency law that has been used to stifle dissent for three decades, the release of all political prisoners, and free and fair elections.
"The army is the backbone of Egypt. The solution is not to remove us from the square. They must respond to our demands," said a protester over loudspeakers.
Protesters said soldiers had detained some of their leaders and that more than 30 people had been taken to an army holding area around the Egyptian Museum, next to the square.
Troops were ordered onto the streets on Jan. 28 after police fought street battles to try to contain protests but lost control. The army has taken a largely neutral role, but has detained some protesters and journalists, often briefly.
"There is no enmity between the people and armed forces ... We ask you not to attack our sons. This is not the (behaviour) of the armed forces. This is a peaceful protest," one protester said on loudspeakers. "We demand that the armed forces release all our sons that have been arrested in Tahrir."
Some passersby felt the time for protests was over.
"Haven't they got what they want? Can someone explain to me what is left of their demands?" asked one bystander.
But Jihad Laban, an accountant, said much work remained to make sure the revolution did not squander what it had gained.
"We stood by the army in their revolution," he said, alluding to the 1952 coup that toppled the British-backed king. "They need to stand with us in ours.
"The goal was never just to get rid of Mubarak. The system is totally corrupt and we won't go until we see some real reforms. I am going to be buried in Tahrir, I am here for my children. Egypt is too precious to walk away now."
A 38-year-old industrial worker who gave his name only as Mohamed, said he had changed his mind about going home.
"I was going to leave today, but after what the military has done, the millions will be back again. The corrupt system still stands. It has gone back to using the only thing it understands - force. If we leave, they won't respond to our demands."