There was a lull in the clashes near the Interior Ministry on Saturday, as a number of demonstrators formed a human shield on Mohamed Mahmoud Street to prevent others entering the streets leading to the ministry.
Earlier during the protests, which are a response to Wednesday's football disaster at Port Said, protesters demolished a wall that the security forces had built in the same place.
Demonstrators stretched plastic ropes the width of Mohamed Mahmoud Street before the intersection with Mansour Street to prevent others from progressing toward the Ministry of Interior, as shown in photos broadcasted by state TV.
Hundreds chanted "Peaceful peaceful, [go] to the square" to persuade the demonstrators in Mohamed Mahmoud Street move back to Tahrir. Some responded to the call, but hundreds insisted on remaining.
"We received 200 injured people [on Friday], and have treated 500 others since the beginning of the events. The majority of injuries were cases of suffocation from tear gas. There were also some birdshot injuries," Alaa Mohamed Abdallah, the doctor responsible for Mohamed Mahmoud Street field hospital, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Traffic appeared to flow smoothly through Tahrir Square on Saturday morning, while hundreds continued a sit-in in the middle of the square.
There were brief clashes earlier in the morning between security forces and demonstrators within the vicinity of the Interior Ministry.
