The Muslim Brotherhood has released a statement demanding that Egypt’s ruling military council issues an immediate apology for Friday’s clashes outside the Cabinet building, which has left eight dead and some 300 injured.

The Brotherhood also asked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to launch an independent and transparent investigation into the clashes and also previous clashes between protesters and security forces.

The Brotherhood also demanded that the results of the investigation be announced within a short period of time, and that families of martyrs be compensated and that the government pay the medical fees of all those who were injured.

The Islamist group, which has led in the first two rounds of the parliamentary elections, also underlined that it is important to continue with the voting process.

The group urged the military council to hand over power to a civil authority by June 2012.

The Brotherhood said in the statement that when the military council took over power after the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak in February they promised to protect the people until a new civil authority is elected.

“This is why we were shocked when we saw them kill and injure civilians in the Maspero clashes and in the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes and finally in the Parliament Street and Kasr El-Nil’s clashes,” the statement read. “And to date, there has been no condemnation of the military officials who committed these crimes.”

The group also said that whenever the situation calmed and elections proceeded, a new sectarian problem is ignited, which caused instability and disrupts the path to democracy and the transferral of power.

“Peaceful protests are a constitutional right and Prime Minister El-Ganzoury had said a few days ago that no peaceful protest will be forcibly dispersed with the use of violence," the Brotherhood said. "But today, we see unjustified attacks on protesters which led to the death and injury of hundreds of protesters.”

The latest clashes began Friday morning between security forces and protesters who have been staging a sit-in at the Cabinet building to voice their anger over the appointment of Kamal El-Ganzoury — a former National Democratic Party member and premier under Mubarak — as the new interim prime minister.