Almost all the protesters arrested on Wednesday during a march in downtown Cairo to commemorate the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes in 2011 have been released by police, activists told Ahram Online.

Baho Bakhash, a member of the Freedom for the Brave, a campaign to release political detainees in Egypt, said that 29 persons have been released, while three remain in detention and will be referred to the prosecutor-general on Thursday.

The three detained protesters are Mohamed El-Sherif, from the Bread and Freedom Party, along with Mohamed Ashraf and Marwan Hussein.

On Wednesday police forcibly dispersed a limited rally held to mark the third anniversary of clashes on the iconic downtown street that left 47 persons dead and 3,000 injured, as part of a violent stand-off between protesters and police near Tahrir Square.

The commemoration included a number of political groups like the April 6 Youth Movement and the Constitution Party, who called for marches and silent vigils on the steps of the nearby Journalists Syndicate.

However, the marches were dispersed from the start, with police firing tear gas and warning shots into the air, according to activists, and the day's events were cancelled.

Egypt passed a controversial protest law in late 2013 that bans all but police-sanctioned demonstrations. Hundreds have since been imprisoned under the law, as leading activists launch a series of hunger strikes in protest.