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.
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 cabinet office.
Troops and police moved to retake control of the area around the office early on Saturday, 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.
By midnight soldiers had withdrawn behind a concrete wall hastily erected in the afternoon on a street leading to the cabinet offices.
Protesters threw petrol bombs and stones over the wall. Barrages of rocks and fireworks were aimed at the protesters from a building on the other side of the wall. (AFP)
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