Eighteen Master's and PhD degree holders were briefly detained Tuesday before being released in the early hours of Wednesday for protesting in front of the Cabinet building in downtown Cairo, Ahram Arabic website reported.

The protests led to clashes between the protesters and security forces, after which the gathering was dispersed.

The 2015 graduates were calling for employment at the state's administrative apparatus, jobs which they say were previously granted to graduates from 2002 until 2014.

Lawyers syndicate head Sameh Ashour called interior minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar to ask for the graduates' release without filing reports, to which the minister agreed, Ahram Arabic website said.

A syndicate delegation was present with the detainees at the police station.

Unemployed post-graduate degree holders held several protests throughout the past months, including one in November 2015 in front of the Cabinet that later moved to Tahrir Square before it was dispersed by security forces.