They set up tents in the heart of the nation’s largest metropolis and vowed to remain until their voices are heard. No, it’s not Occupy Wall Street, it’s the pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where events once again turned deadly this weekend.

Thirty-three people have been reported killed and 1800 injured by Egyptian security forces over the past three days of violence in Cairo’s central square, where protesters have vowed to remain until Egypt’s military either steps aside or declares a definite date for a handover of power to a civilian government.

“Throughout the day, young activists skirmished with black-clad police, hurling stones and firebombs and throwing back the tear gas canisters being fired by police into the square, which was the epicenter of the anti-Mubarak protest movement,” the Associated Press reported. “Sounds of gunfire crackled around the square, and a constant stream of injured protesters — bloodied from rubber bullets or overcome by gas — were brought into makeshift clinics set out on sidewalks, where volunteer doctors scrambled from patient to patient.”

On Monday, Egyptian state television announced that the existing cabinet had submitted its resignation to the ruling military council. The prime minister and cabinet had been criticized for inefficiency and perceived subordination to military authority.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled to begin on Nov. 28, but many Egyptians fear the military will never voluntarily surrender control. In spite of the bloody confrontations this weekend, opposition political groups have called for a mass demonstration in Tahrir Square on Tuesday.

Ahmed Imam, one of the protesters, told the BBC that it had been a mistake to trust the military after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

"The revolutionaries went home too soon,” he said. “We collected the spoils and left before the battle was over."

(Photo: REUTERS/Amr Dalsh)