Violence raged in the administrative heart of Egypt’s capital on yesterday as troops and police deployed in force after clashes with protesters against continued military rule left nine people dead.

Footage posted on Youtube showed the bloodied body of cleric Emad Effat lying on the street before protesters carried him away

Smoke billowed over Tahrir Square, the iconic focus of the protest movement that overthrew veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February, after two nearby government offices caught fire, an AFP correspondent said.

Demonstrators pelted security forces with rocks and petrol bombs as they fought running battles in the streets around the square and an adjacent bridge across the River Nile.

Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzuri raised tensions by accusing the protesters of being counter-revolutionaries and denying security forces had opened fire as they broke up a sit-in against his nomination last month outside the nearby cabinet office.

Troops and police moved to retake control of the area around the office early yesterday, erecting razor-wire barriers.

But after several hours of calm, new clashes erupted, overshadowing the count in the second phase of the first general election since Mubarak’s ouster.

Abul Ela Madi, the vice-president of a civilian advisory council to the military set up in November after days of anti-army protests, said 11 of the council’s 30 members had resigned in protest by yesterday.

“Eleven people have resigned,” said Madi, who heads the moderate Islamist Wasat party. “We made recommendations yesterday (Friday) but today (yesterday) we were surprised that not only were they not implemented, but there were further casualties,” he said.

By the afternoon, soldiers withdrew to the cabinet offices and began constructing a wall of concrete blocks, witnesses said.

Following the resignations, the ruling military council expressed “regret for the events that took place (yesterday),” in a statement published by the MENA news agency.

It added it was implementing the advisory council’s recommendations to stop the clashes by building a wall, and it would compensate the families of the dead and treat the wounded.