国际英语新闻:Injury toll rises to 216 in Egypt's Friday clashes: health ministry

CAIRO, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The injury toll rose to 216 in the clashes that erupted Friday between security forces and anti- government protesters across Egypt, health ministry spokesman Ahmed Omar told Xinhua Saturday.

"As many as 210 out of the 216 were treated and discharged from hospitals. Only six are still being treated; five were injured outside the presidential palace in Cairo and one in Gharbiya governorate," Omar said, noting that over 160 people were injured in Gharbiya alone, some 80 km north of Cairo.

Demonstrations overwhelmed Egypt nationwide as thousands of anti-government protesters went to main streets and public squares, raising signs and chanting slogans against President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group.

Some of the protesters demanded sacking the "unqualified" government, the interior minister and the prosecutor-general, amending the newly-drafted controversial constitution and trying those responsible for the death of over 50 protesters in recent clashes with security forces.

The demonstrations, dubbed "Friday of Dignity" or "Friday of Departure," also condemned the recent police aggression against a protester who was beaten up and stripped before being dragged to a police vehicle.

The most violent clashes were in Gharbiya, Cairo, Alexandria, Kafr el-Sheikh and Sharqiya governorates.