Egypt’s Interior Ministry on fire
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Protesters deny setting the blaze
- The ministry was the scene of a protest earlier Tuesday
- People fled the burning building
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — The Egyptian Interior Ministry was on fire Tuesday in downtown Cairo following a protest earlier in the day.
Flames could be seen on the roof of the multi-story building, and a dark plume of smoke loomed over the city. People could be seen fleeing the building as it burned.
The ministry was the site of a peaceful protest Tuesday morning and afternoon, with thousands of ministry employees — many of them police officers — making demands, mainly for higher wages.
Protesters at the building denied setting the fire, saying it originated inside. During the protest, some of them could be seen climbing on guard posts and the building’s roof.
Before the fire broke out, a procession of thousands of demonstrators made its way from the Interior Ministry through Cairo’s Tahrir Square — ground zero for protests that toppled longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last month — and in the direction of the state television and radio offices.
In a similar protest a few weeks ago, demonstrators set other buildings in the Interior Ministry complex ablaze, as well as cars. However, that fire did not grow to the size of Tuesdays’ blaze.
Journalist Ian Lee contributed to this report.
Part of complete coverage on
Find up-to-the-minute updates on the situation in Libya with CNN’s This Just In blog.
Follow CNN correspondents on the ground as they report on conflict in the Arab world.
Peter Bergen warns against comparing U.S. involvement in two different conflicts.
Are you in the Middle East or North Africa? Send iReport your images. Don’t do anything that could put you at risk.
President Obama talks about Libya objectives during a press conference in Chile.
Gen. Wesley Clark pinpoints the diplomatic and political issues that now need attention.
Foreign policy expert James Rubin looks at President Obama’s options.
For full coverage in Arabic of events in North Africa and the Middle East, head to CNN Arabic.
Â
[Read more here|Read the original here|Read more from the original source|Continued here|Read more|More here|View original post here|More|See more here|See original here|Originally posted here|Here is the original post|See the original post|The rest is here|Read the rest here|See the rest here|Go here to read the rest|Go here to see the original|See the original post here|Read the original post|Original post|Read the original|Link|Excerpt from|View post|Visit link|Follow this link|Continue reading here|See the article here|Read this article