Egyptian military detains 300 protesters after unrest Published duration 5 May 2012

image caption Field Marshal Tantawi attended the funeral in Cairo of the soldier killed in Friday's unrest

About 300 people are still being detained after deadly clashes between protesters and security forces in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, military sources said.

Violence outside the defence ministry on Friday left one soldier dead and hundreds wounded.

A curfew will be in force in the area around the ministry on Saturday night for the second night in a row.

The violence comes less than three weeks before presidential polls.

Military prosecutors say that the 300 people detained, including a number of journalists, will be held for 15 days while they're investigated for their part in the clashes.

But the authorities have moved to defuse the situation a little by saying they are releasing all the women who were arrested; activists say less than 20 women had been detained.

The head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, on Saturday attended the public funeral in Cairo of the soldier killed in the unrest.

Friday's arrests came after protesters tried to break through an army roadblock to reach the ministry, in Cairo's Abbassiya district, resulting in clashes with the army which lasted several hours.

The area is now reported to be calm after a curfew was imposed on Friday night. Saturday's curfew comes into force at 23:00 local time (21:00 GMT) and ending at 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday.

The protesters had been angry at the generals' failure to protect a demonstration on Wednesday which came under attack from armed men, resulting in the deaths of at least 20 people.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo say the mass arrests are a stark contrast to Wednesday's attack - for which it appears no-one has been arrested or charged.

Nevertheless, he says, many Egyptians will applaud the tough way these clashes have been handled - they are longing, above all, simply for a return to law and order, and to normality.

One lawyer, Ragia Omran, told the Associated Press news agency that the roundup was one of the largest mass arrests to take place under the ruling military council, which took over after Hosni Mubarak was toppled as president last year.