Residents of Dabaa, where Egypt’s nuclear power project is under construction, continued their sit-in on Saturday after clashes with Egyptian military police on Friday.
The clashes left 41 people injured, including 29 soldiers, according to state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram.
On Friday, about 500 residents had rallied demanding the dismantlement of the nuclear power plant, saying their lands were confiscated to make room for it. They say the government did not give them compensation for the land.
Taha Mohamed Al-Sayed, governor of Matrouh, had held an urgent meeting with protestors' representatives, calling on them to exercise self-restraint.
The governor was quoted by MENA as telling the protestors that the army will not attack them. Al-Sayed ordered police to secure the plant's gates.
Egypt's electricity minister said in March that the country would go ahead with the tender for the plant's construction after the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Soldiers and protesters hurled stones at each other and exchanged gunfire after the protesters demolished a wall surrounding the site, a security source and witnesses said.
