CAIRO - Egypt is holding the latest round of its first democratic parliamentary election on Thursday in relative calm after five days of protests in Cairo that prompted a brutal response from security forces.
The latest confrontations, in which 15 people were killed, redoubled the determination of many pro-democracy protesters to see the military council that took over from ousted president Hosni Mubarak hand power to civilians immediately.Tahrir and surrounding streets were quiet on Wednesday for the first time in a week, not least because the authorities had erected concrete walls to bar access from the square to roads leading to parliament, the cabinet office and the Interior Ministry, where violence has been the most fierce.
