Editor's note: Tune in at 8 p.m. ET for the latest on the clashes from Ben Wedeman who's on the ground in Egypt.
Cairo (CNN) - Military police poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday in hopes of stopping clashes between protesters and police, as the Egyptian government said a truce had been declared through a group of clerics.
The truce lasted about three hours.
CNN saw military police lined up, separating protesters from the police.
But after a period of calm, some protesters began throwing rocks at soldiers. Riot police responded with tear gas; the unrest continued late Wednesday.
Some army soldiers tried to stop security forces from shooting tear gas, but they were outnumbered.
On state-run TV, the government said religious scholars were on their way "to form a human shield between the protesters and the security forces."