Protestors in northern Sinai torch building, clash with police

Thousands of angry demonstrators destroyed the headquarters of Egypt's ruling party in this northern Sinai Peninsula town in the second day of protests demanding better security, police and witnesses said.

Dozens were injured in clashes when plainclothed police officers attacked the El Arish demonstrators with batons, tear gas and metal chains, police officials and witnesses said. At least 40 people were arrested and two police officers injured in the clashes, police officials said.

The demonstrators, who are protesting what they say is a lack of adequate security from Egyptian authorities, pulled down murals of President Hosni Mubarak from the National Democratic Party's building and set furniture and documents on fire, said Hassan Abdullah, an opposition party member in El Arish who was at the scene.

Police officials in Cairo confirmed that the NDP building was destroyed and furniture and other items set on fire. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The protesters also set fire to the local council building, a few small stores and burned tires in the streets as authorities struggled to control the situation, said the police officials and Amin al-Qassass, a leader with the El Arish branch of the opposition party Al Wafd who saw the clashes.

The protesters blocked the roads leading to El Arish's town center and demanded the resignation of the Northern Sinai governor and the local police chief, al-Qassass said.

The trouble in El Arish first started Saturday evening when scores of masked Bedouins opened fire randomly in the Fawakhriyah district in dispute with another Bedouin tribe, wounding three people and damaging shops and cars, police said.

Thousands of residents then took to the streets demanding better protection from the masked Bedouin men. Three more people, including two police officers, were injured in Saturday's clashes with authorities, who fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

Police forces had been exercising self-restraint earlier Sunday and stood away from the demonstrators to avoid direct confrontation, the officials said.

But the demonstration spiraled out of control Sunday afternoon, and police moved in to fight back the protesters, the officials said.

About two dozen armored vehicles surrounded the demonstration and hundreds of security forces, including plainclothed officers, intervened, Abdullah and the police officials said.

It is a state of severe anger and frustration as a result of the security absence in the town. ... We are not asking to be protected from the Bedouins or anybody else, but we are aiming to attract attention to the lawless state in the town, al-Qassass told reporters by phone.

Tension between the townspeople in El Arish, which is home to 30,000 people, and Bedouins who live outside the town in the vast Sinai desert is not uncommon and confrontations between the two occur occasionally.