Reuters
25 January 2011 - "Down, down, Hosni Mubarak," chanted protesters in Cairo, where police fired teargas and used water cannon, and protesters hurled bottles and rocks at them.
Two protesters in the city of Suez, east of Cairo, died as a result of rubber bullets, security and medical sources said. State television said one security officer died in central Cairo because of a blow to the head from a stone that was thrown.
Some protesters were beaten hard by police with sticks. Others, in a rare show of nerve against a huge national security operation, chased police down side streets. Reuters TV footage showed one policeman joining the demonstrators.
In Alexandria protesters flipped over a police vehicle and tore down a picture of Mubarak, 82, and one of his son, Gamal, who many Egyptians believe is being groomed for office when his father stands down. Both deny this.
Protesters in Cairo who responded to calls by web activists for action cried: "Gamal, tell your father Egyptians hate you."
Analyst Nabil Abdel-Fattah said: "What is happening today is a major warning to the system. It is both an extension of pent-up frustrations and continued protests. What is also new is that there are new generations who are using new tools."
The protest could gather momentum unless the state swiftly addressed the demand for reform, he said.
Sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been key tools for activists in galvanizing protesters. Harvard University's Herdict web monitoring service reported that Egyptians said the Twitter website was blocked on all Internet Service Providers.
Egyptians have the same complaints that drove Tunisians onto the streets: surging food prices, poverty, unemployment and authoritarian rule that smothers public protests quickly and often brutally. "Tunisia, Tunisia," protesters shouted.
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