Cairo horrified by pictures showing police beating naked man According to local media, Mr Saber, a construction worker, told prosecutors at the police hospital where he was being treated that he was "surprised" to find his clothes being torn off. He said he asked the officers, from the controversial central security force, to leave him alone, but they continued to beat and insult him. The attack by protesters on the presidential palace was the culmination of a worsening public order problem since Mr Morsi forced through a new, Islamist-tinged constitution in November. Attackers briefly set fire to a guard-house, before being beaten back with water cannon, buckshot and tear gas. One man, aged 23, was killed. The violence was condemned by the opposition, led by Mohammed ElBaradei, the former United Nations atomic agency chief, and two defeated presidential candidates, Hamdeen Sabbahy and Amr Moussa. But they renewed already widespread calls for action against the police after the attack, which was strongly reminiscent of photographs of a young woman protester dragged out of Tahrir Square by military police in December 2011 in such a way that her clothes were lifted to reveal her bra. Such attacks were supposed to have come to an end with the advent of democracy and the dropping of military rule, but human rights groups say suspects continue to be tortured and beaten to death in custody. In turn, that fuels more protests like Friday's. Yesterday morning, Hisham Kandil, the prime minister, attempted to visit protesters camped in Tahrir Square but retreated when his motorcade was stoned. "The horrible and degrading images showing the central security officers and police beating and dragging a naked man near the presidential palace should lead to the interior minister's immediate resignation," said Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for the opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front. Mr Saber's wife, Fathiya, speaking from the hospital, told an independent satellite television station that her husband was "not badly hurt." She also thanked the police for "helping him to receive treatment," leading the anchor to question whether she was talking under duress.