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AFP
Hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding an end to military rule and a group of men in civilian clothes scuffled in central Cairo Sunday, leaving three injured, the health ministry said.

The protest, held outside the state television building, was part of a series of rallies organised by pro-democracy groups to mark one year since the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak and left the military in power.

"Down with military rule!" the protesters chanted, on the same day as Egyptians headed to polling stations to vote in upper house elections.

Witnesses said that protesters who spent the day outside the television building in the Maspero district clashed with dozens of men in civilian clothes that they described as "thugs".

"Three people were injured as a result of rock throwing. They are all in stable condition," the health ministry said in a statement.

By Sunday evening, hundreds of protesters marched from the nearby Tahrir Square-- the epicentre of rallies that toppled Mubarak-- to join the Maspero demonstrators.

Waving flags and carrying banners, they chanted against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's ex-defence minister who heads the military council now running the country.

Soldiers and lines of barbed wire protected the entrances to the building as traffic flowed normally in both directions.

"We want the military to hand power to civilian rule," one protester told AFP.

Protesters, who have been taking to the streets since Wednesday, vowed to revive their unfinished revolution.

They say the goals of their uprising remain unfulfilled, including an end to military tribunals for civilians, the restructuring of the interior ministry and the guarantee of freedoms and basic social justice.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has pledged to hand power to civilian rule by June when a new president is elected.

The military enjoyed hero status at the start of the uprising last year for refusing to shoot on demonstrators, but became the target of protester wrath over human rights abuses and the stifling of dissent.

Sunday's scuffles came as the first day of voting for the upper house of parliament wrapped up.

The two stage election, which ends in February, is part of roadmap for a transition to democratic rule, after lower house polls that saw Islamists win a crushing victory.