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World Bulletin / News Desk

Two members of Egypt's security forces and three civilians were killed on Sunday and hundreds injured when shooting broke out during clashes between protesters and police in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, security and medical sources said on Monday.

The violence erupted as hundreds of people demonstrated after authorities decided to move prisoners awaiting a verdict over alleged involvement in a deadly football riot last year.

Police used tear gas to disperse a crowd that had gathered in front of a local government office. The Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday that 404 people had been injured.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that two of its personnel had died of bullet wounds to the neck and head.

A security official said earlier that protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at the police station in Port Said, where a general strike entered its third week.

The interior ministry said it decided to move prisoners from Port Said, starting with the 39 remaining defendants over the February 2012 football violence, because it wanted to avoid unrest.

The court verdict, expected next Saturday, is for the 39 defendants in a case which resulted in death sentences in January for 21 other defendants, sparking clashes that killed at least 40 people.

Last year's football riot killed 74 people, mostly supporters of a visiting Cairo team.