CAIRO: Egyptian forces fired in the air early Saturday to disperse several hundred protesters who camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square overnight after the biggest demonstration in more than a month, witnesses said.
Military police moved in after tens of thousands, who rallied on Friday to demand the prosecution of ousted president Hosni Mubarak and other leading figures from his regime, were joined by dissident army officers.
The military, which has ruled the Arab world's most populous nation since Mubarak quit in February in the face of mass protests, said that "elements from the interior ministry" backed by civilians had cleared the "outlaws" from the square, in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency.
During the mass rally after the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday, protesters also chanted slogans against the head of the military, Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi, after they were joined by at least seven dissident officers who called for the "purification" of the army.
At midnight (2200 GMT) Friday, the officers were still in the square, gathered in a tent surrounded by more than a dozen protesters who wanted to guard them against arrest.
Cairo remains under a 2 am to 5 am (2400 to 0300 GMT) curfew.
"Elements from the interior ministry along with some noble citizens confronted the riotous actions and enforced the curfew without any losses," the armed forces statement carried by MENA said.
A separate statement posted on the military's Facebook page blamed "remnants" of the formerly ruling National Democratic Party for the demonstration and said it had ordered the arrest of four party members it accused of "thuggery" during the sit-in.
Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo was the focal point of 18 straight days of mass protests that brought down Mubarak's regime after three decades in power.
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