Egyptian police, Sinai protesters clash

Thousands of angry demonstrators destroyed the regional headquarters of Egypt's ruling party, demanding government protection from lawlessness after a downtown shootout between masked Bedouin tribesmen and locals, police and witnesses said.

Dozens were injured in clashes in this northern Sinai Peninsula town when plainclothed police attacked the El Arish demonstrators with batons, tear gas and metal chains, police and witnesses said. At least 40 people were arrested and two police officers injured in the clashes, police said.

The trouble in El Arish started Saturday evening when scores of masked Bedouins opened fire in a dispute with local El Arish residents, wounding three people and damaging shops and cars, police said.

Thousands of residents then took to the streets demanding better protection from raids by the semi-nomadic Bedouin.

"It is a state of severe anger and frustration as a result of the security absence in the town. ... We are not asking to be protected from the Bedouins or anybody else, but we are aiming to attract attention to the lawless state in the town," said Amin al-Qassass, a leader with the El Arish branch of the opposition party Al Wafd.

The demonstrators on Sunday pulled down murals of President Hosni Mubarak from the National Democratic Party's building and set furniture and documents on fire, said Hassan Abdullah, another local opposition leader.

Police officials in Cairo confirmed that the NDP building was destroyed and furniture and other items set ablaze. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Sheik Moussa el-Deleh, a Bedouin tribal leader in northern Sinai, said the protesters are exaggerating a tiny problem and demonstrating their bitterness toward Bedouins by calling them bandits and thugs.

"I regret what is happening in El Arish. I did not sleep since the events broke out last night," el-Deleh said by telephone. "The assailants were six young men and do not represent all the Bedouins."

"We call on the people of El Arish to practice self-restraint. Those who started the problem should be punished, but not all the Bedouins," he added.

Tension between the townspeople in El Arish, which is home to 120,000 people, and Bedouins who live outside the town in the vast Sinai desert is not uncommon and confrontations between the two occur occasionally.

Some Bedouins outside of El Arish complain they receive little benefit from the region's tourist boom and are struggling financially. Instead some eke out a living smuggling goods and people across the Israeli border.

Last month, thousands of Bedouins burnt tires and blocked roads across the Sinai Peninsula protesting their mistreatment at the hands of the government.

Egyptian authorities have blamed Bedouins for aiding terrorists who have carried out a series of deadly attacks since Oct. 2004 against the Sinai resort towns of Sharm el-Sheik, Taba and Dahab that have killed 125 people. In response to the attacks, officials have rounded up thousands of locals, a move that has intensified Bedouin anger.