Protesters firebomb Al-Jazeera Cairo office

Egyptian protesters firebombed one of the offices of satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera on Wednesday and attacked a police chief who tried to negotiate an end to three days of violent protests in central Cairo.

The protesters hit the TV studio overlooking Tahrir Square with firebombs, engulfing it in flames. In a televised interview from inside the gutted office, reporter Ahmed el-Dassouki said around 300 protesters approached the building before noon, shouting obscenities.

He said they set the place on fire, stormed the building and looted the studio. "They accuse our network of being biased and not objective," he said. Many protesters had accused the channel of bias in favor of the country's most powerful political force, the Muslim Brotherhood.

After the attack, a crowd assaulted Cairo Police Chief Osama el-Saghir, who went to Tahrir Square to diffuse the situation, a security official said. Protesters drove El-Saghir from the square with punches and kicks, the official added, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

Fire crews rushed to put out the office blaze as dozens of onlookers watched smoke and flames shoot from the balcony.