WARNING - VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

Disturbing video footage shows Egyptian security forces beating a naked protester outside Egypt's presidential palace in Cairo on Friday.

But here, in a police hospital, the man claims it wasn't the police who assaulted him - he says it was anti-government demonstrators.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 48-YEAR-OLD PROTESTER HAMADA SABER, SAYING:

"They took my clothes off", he says, "Maybe they were looking for money in my pockets. Then someone among them shouted 'he is not a soldier, he is an old man and you are going to kill him'. The soldiers ran towards me. I was afraid of them, but they were saying "We will not beat you".

But the video clearly contradicts his words, and many - including his own daughter - believe the statement may have been forced under police threats.

The incident comes after nearly 60 people have already been killed in over a week of violent clashes across Egypt.

It's is an unmistakable reminder of the beating of a woman by riot police in Tahrir Square in December 2011.

Images of her being dragged and stomped on became a rallying symbol for the revolution, and undermined the interim military rulers who held power between Hosni Mubarak's fall and President Mohamed Mursi's rise to power.