File photo: Egyptian protesters standing on the sidewall of the U.S. embassy move down an American flag pulled down from the embassy in Cairo (Photo: AP)
South Cairo Prosecution has ordered the detainment of 42 new suspects pending investigations into last week's clashes around the US embassy.
The suspects have since denied taking part in the clashes and claim to be street vendors who were selling their wares in the vicinity of the embassy.
The 42 are accused of attempting to storm the American embassy, pelting Egyptian police forces with stones and Molotov cocktails and forcibly disrupting traffic.
Clashes erupted outside the US mission last week after demonstrations against an inflammatory anti-Islam film entitled The Innocence of Muslims turned violent. The three-day street fight between protesters and Egypt's security forces left two dead and hundreds injured.
Hundreds of Egyptian Central Security Forces (CSF) and plainclothed personnel stormed Cairo's Tahrir Square and the roads leading to the US embassy on Saturday morning, beating and arresting dozens of protesters, bringing an end to four days of demonstrations and intermittent clashes with police.
It is estimated that over 220 were arrested in the crackdown Saturday morning, with another 142 having been arrested since protests began last Tuesday.
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