CAIRO — Suspected supporters of Egypt’s military rulers attacked predominantly Islamist anti-government protesters outside the Defense Ministry in Cairo on Wednesday, setting off clashes that left 11 dead as political tensions rise three weeks before crucial presidential elections.
Protesters have been camped outside the Defense Ministry for days demanding an end to the military rule that replaced Hosni Mubarak, the longtime authoritarian leader ousted 14 months ago in a popular uprising.
Most of the protesters were supporters of disqualified presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, an ultraconservative Islamist.
He was barred from running for president because his late mother held dual Egyptian-U.S. citizenship, something that rendered him ineligible under election laws.
Several presidential candidates announced the suspension of their campaigns, accusing the military rulers of failure to stop the bloodshed. Several key political parties, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, also boycotted a meeting with the ruling generals in protest.
The meeting, however, went ahead as scheduled to discuss efforts to create a panel to draft a new constitution.
“We blame the military council for the bloodshed,” Osama Yassin of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party told state television.
The violence also led to the cancellation of the first presidential debate, which was scheduled for Thursday night and to be televised nationwide.
The debate was to pit Mr. Mubarak’s longtime foreign minister, Amr Moussa, against moderate Islamist Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh. Both are considered front-runners in the race.
It also set off speculation that the ruling generals may be behind the violence as a pretext to cling to power.
But state television quoted Chief of Staff Gen. Sami Anan as saying the military was ready to step down after the first round of the presidential election on May 23 and 24 if it produces an outright winner.
It is highly unlikely that any of the 13 candidates will secure the 50 percent-plus of the votes cast in the first round to be declared the outright winner.
A runoff between the top two would be held June 16 and 17, and the winner will be announced June 21.
Egypt has been plagued by sporadic bouts of violence, often surrounding anti-government protests, in the transitional period following the uprising. More than 100 people have been killed in that time.
Critics accuse the ruling generals of badly bungling the shift to democratic rule and of acting too much like the former autocratic regime.
The disqualification of three leading presidential candidates recently raised tensions in the country ahead of the vote, the final step in the democratic transition.
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