Mourners turned out on Friday for the funeral of protesters killed in clashes in Egypt's Port Said, a day before a court is to issue verdicts over the killing of people in a football riot there. Thousands of protesters followed a casket borne by mourners that held the body of a man killed in clashes on March 4, and a funeral was scheduled later in the day for another protester, shot dead overnight.

The main security building in Egypt's Port Said was set ablaze on Monday as fighting which cost six lives erupted anew between police and protesters in the restive Suez Canal city, an AFP correspondent said. The blaze, which started on the ground floor of the security headquarters, sent plumes of smoke into the air while clashes continued in the streets surrounding the building. Rescue services could not reach the area, witnesses said, as anger mounted in the city where a campaign of civil disobedience entered its third week.

Thousands took to the streets of Egypt's Port Said on Monday for the funeral of three people killed in clashes, in the latest unrest fuelled by death sentences for football fans over deadly riots last year. "The interior ministry (officials) are cowards!" the angry mourners chanted and called on Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to "leave". Six people, including three policemen, were killed and hundreds injured in the overnight fighting after the authorities decided to move prisoners awaiting a verdict over alleged involvement in a deadly football riot last year.

Four people including two policemen were killed in overnight clashes between security forces and protesters in Egypt's restive canal city of Port Said, the interior ministry said on Monday. At least 420 people were also injured in the clashes which began on Sunday after authorities decided to move prisoners awaiting a verdict over alleged involvement in a deadly football riot last year. The two policemen died from gunshots to the head and neck, an interior ministry official said.