Egypt Live Blog

Egypt's presidential elections committee said it would stop its work in preparation for presidential elections due later this month after what it said was an insult to the committee by members of parliament during its session on Monday.

The committee said in a statement it would not meet on Tuesday as planned with presidential candidates and media figures pending "suitable conditions for the meeting".

It was not immediately clear whether this would affect the timeline for Egypt's landmark elections due on May 23 and 24.

The elections committee said members of parliament had expressed distrust and insulted its judges, and it called on the ruling army council to intervene to allow the panel to continue its work.

"If some seek to complicate the situation and stir strife then (the committee) apologises for not continuing its work in the manner that satisfies it and that realizes the hopes of the Egyptian people," the statement said.

A senior member of the presidential elections committee, Hatem Bagato, confirmed the contents of the statement to Reuters, but gave no other details.

The AFP reports:

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Cairo, a day after the violent clashes took place near the Ministry of Defence:

It has been a very mixed reaction across the country [to the protests]. Obviously there is an overwhelming sense of anxiety of where the revolution is going and the security situation on the ground. There is a lot of anger towards the protest movement and the protesters outside the defence ministry, as well as the return of the use of the word 'thugs' in describing those protesting outside the defence ministry. There was already a growing divide between the population and the protest movement over protesters actions but at the same time there is also a lot of anger directed at the security forces and the heavy handed way in which they dealt with protesters, especially as we saw the scenes of people clearly fleeing from the scenes but still being chased by the military and police who were showering them with gunfire and teargas.

Last night the action extended from Abbasiya where the defence ministry is to Tahrir square... the area Abbasiya outside the defence ministry is currently quite calm. Municipality workers were seen around the defence ministry clearing the rubble, the shops have re-opened in the area, so somewhat a sense of calm has been restored to the streets.

Underway now is the funeral of the soldier who said to have been shot in his stomach during the clashes. We also understand a very important development in terms of the arrests. while the official figure is that 170 people have been arrested, lawyers are telling us that upwards of 300 people were actually rounded up. Of those, a hundred people have been handed 15 days detention in military facilities. They include women, they include medics who were at the scene trying to help the protesters. A number of journalists remain unaccounted for and are believed to have been rounded up by the military.