Unrest is continuing in Cairo as protesters step up their demand for Egypt's military rulers to resign.

开罗社会状况依然动荡，抗议者要求军事统治者退位。

Street battles with riot police have been heaviest around the fortified¹ interior ministry² located on a side street off Tahrir Square.

Gunfire was reported late on Wednesday but the interior minister said security forces were only firing tear gas.

The protesters have rejected a pledge（保证） by the ruling military council to speed up transition to a civilian³ government.

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Cairo says the violence threatens to overshadow next week's parliamentary elections.

He says public opinion on the protests is divided. Some Egyptians want elections to go ahead unhindered（不受妨碍的） while others believe the military must be swept from power first.

The clashes, now entering their sixth day, are the longest outbreak of violence since the 18-day uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Since then a military council has been tasked with guiding the country's transition to democracy. The latest protests have been triggered by suspicions that the military intends to hang on to power.

On Tuesday Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme⁴ Council of the Armed Forces, sought to defuse（平息） the situation by promising⁵ presidential elections by the end of June, six months sooner than planned. The military-appointed civilian cabinet also tendered its resignation.

"They [the military] were with Mubarak from the start," said Fatihia Abdul Ezz, 60, who had come to the square to protest.

"I came when I saw our sons being killed."

Steel buckshot

Groups of stone-throwing demonstrators have been locked in pitched battles（激战） in the streets between Tahrir Square and the interior ministry for several days.

Riot police blocking streets leading to the ministry have driven back the protesters with volleys of tear gas and rubber-covered steel buckshot（大号铅弹） .

Protesters have spoken of gunshots and injuries or deaths from live bullets but Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawy said security forces were only firing tear gas.

On state TV he said unidentified people were shooting from rooftops near Tahrir Square, Reuters news agency said.

At one point on Wednesday a truce⁶ was apparently⁷ brokered⁸ by religious leaders, but soon broke down and the clashes continued into the night.

There were also clashes in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, and in Ismailia, on the Suez Canal.

Television pictures from Ismailia showed armoured vehicles patrolling streets as security forces tried to disperse⁹（分散，传播） protesters with volleys of tear gas.

In Alexandria protests have been smaller than in Cairo, but one protester said clashes were continuing early on Thursday outside the security headquarters.

One protester, Mahinour, told the BBC the number of injured people there was increasing.

"Most of them are suffocating¹⁰ because of gas. This time they are not using tear gas, it's more nerve gas than tear gas. And as well there are some people injured by rubber bullets," she said.

Despite the clashes, the BBC's Wyre Davies in Alexandria says the appetite for conflict is lessening¹¹ and people want their country to move on.