Egypt protesters storm government building

Protesters stormed a government building in the canal city of Port Said on Wednesday and set fire to office furniture and the governor’s car, witnesses told Agence France-Presse.

About 3 000 protesters broke doors and windows and forced their way into the Port Said province headquarters, throwing out furniture and setting it on fire, the witnesses said.

They also carried the governor’s car out of the building’s garage and set fire to it, they said. No one was in the building at the time.

The witnesses added the protesters came from the nearby Zirzara slum, where they had lived in makeshift huts for 15 years and seen their requests for proper housing regularly turned down.

Police and security forces have largely disappeared from the area since protests demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak erupted nationwide on January 25.

At least 300 people have been killed in the protests, the United Nations has estimated, and scores more have been injured.—Sapa-AFP