Clashes in Alexandria

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Thousands of Egyptian protesters clashed with security forces on Saturday outside a criminal court in Alexandria.

As the protest was underway, the court was looking into the trial of police officers accused of killing protesters during the public uprising that swept President Hosni Mubarak from power in February 2011.

Protesters threw stones and chanted slogans against Egypt's ministry of interior and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The street, which lies next to Cairo's Tahrir Square and near the interior ministry, became a focus of violent protests in November 2011 by demonstrators who accused the ruling generals of employing the same heavy-handed police tactics as Mubarak.

The generals handed power to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi after he was elected president in June 2012.

On a separate court hearing on Saturday, an Egyptian court dismissed cases against 379 people accused of involvement in clashes with police during protests near the interior ministry in November 2011 in which 42 demonstrators were killed, the state news agency reported.

Saturday's decision was based on Mursi's offer of an amnesty for those facing charges related to events during and after the 2011 uprising that ended the 30-year rule of Mubarak.