Deadly clashes broke out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for the second day running yesterday, kicking off a violent countdown to the first elections since Hosni Mubarak’s downfall.

Egyptian police and military forces used batons, tear gas and birdshot to clear central Cairo’s Tahrir Square of thousands of protesters, AFP reporters said.

Heavy clashes pitted the demonstrators against riot and military police who chased them away from entrances to the square and blocked the road leading to the interior ministry, the scene of clashes throughout the day.

Security forces later withdrew from the square but the situation remained fluid, the reporters said. “Three people have died of asphyxiation during the clashes,” Abdallah Abdelrahman, who heads a field hospital in Tahrir Square, said.

Egypt’s Cabinet held crisis talks for several hours before moving en masse to the headquarters of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for another meeting, state television reported.

Throughout the day, sporadic clashes erupted near the Interior Ministry on the outskirts of Tahrir Square, which was covered by clouds of tear gas and littered with stones and glass.

Protesters also called for a mass rally at 1500 GMT in Suez, where hundreds of police were deployed in the centre of the canal city, an AFP correspondent said.

They also took to the streets in nearby Ismailiya, according to a security official.

Two people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between police and protesters on Saturday night, sparking fears of disruption in the first elections since the end of Mr Mubarak’s 30-year-rule.

Phased polling is due to start on November 28.

In makeshift hospitals set up in mosques around Tahrir Square, demonstrators received treatment for tear gas inhalation and for injuries from rubber bullets and birdshot.