CAIRO (Agencies) - Hundreds gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square ahead of a planned pro and anti militery  mass rallies on Friday which sparked outrage when its soldiers were taped beating women protesters.
Activists and political parties called for the demonstration after days of deadly clashes with soldiers last week left at least 17 people dead and many more wounded, including a woman hospitalised after a savage beating by soldiers.
Supporters of the military, which took power after an uprising ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February, planned a counter-rally in the Abbasiya neighbourhood, several kilometres (a few miles) away. Egypt has been divided by the clashes between anti-military activists and soldiers which have left at least 60 people dead over the past two months and overshadowed the first elections since Mubarak's ouster.