Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, who responded by throwing stones
Anti-government protests are intensifying across Egypt, as police clash with demonstrators in several cities demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
A protester in Suez was killed in clashes with police, witnesses said.In Cairo, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, who responded by throwing stones.
The government has warned of "decisive measures". There has been disruption to internet and mobile phone services.
Live television pictures from Cairo showed what appeared to be armoured personnel carriers on the streets. In one location, an army vehicle appeared to go into reverse when it was surrounded by protesters who raised their fists in celebration.
Overnight there was also an apparent crackdown on the banned Islamist opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, after it said it would back the Friday protests.
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There's no internet today in Egypt, the mobile phones here in Suez has been completely cut off, and in the state-run mosques here, the state imams told their congregations at Friday prayers not to go out into the streets again, but it hasn't worked.
Immediately Friday prayers were over at lunchtime today large crowds started to gather: people coming out of the mosques immediately going onto the streets and starting to protest. At least 3,000 people gathered on the street here in front of me.
Initially the protests here were completely peaceful, people calling for the government of Hosni Mubarak to step down, and for new elections. But about an hour later, riot police started to respond with tear gas and then the crowd started to throw stones.
They've attacked a police riot van, taken it over, and it's now been completely set ablaze. There's been a series of large explosions, as ammunition and tear gas grenades inside the vehicle have been going off.
Analysis
There's now a full-scale confrontation going on in the centre of Suez between riot police and several thousand protestors who've gathered again on the streets in the middle of the city. The Egyptian government has done everything it can to try to stop these protests from taking place again today.There's no internet today in Egypt, the mobile phones here in Suez has been completely cut off, and in the state-run mosques here, the state imams told their congregations at Friday prayers not to go out into the streets again, but it hasn't worked.
Immediately Friday prayers were over at lunchtime today large crowds started to gather: people coming out of the mosques immediately going onto the streets and starting to protest. At least 3,000 people gathered on the street here in front of me.
Initially the protests here were completely peaceful, people calling for the government of Hosni Mubarak to step down, and for new elections. But about an hour later, riot police started to respond with tear gas and then the crowd started to throw stones.
They've attacked a police riot van, taken it over, and it's now been completely set ablaze. There's been a series of large explosions, as ammunition and tear gas grenades inside the vehicle have been going off.
At least seven people have died and up to 1,000 have been arrested since the protests began on Tuesday.
The unrest follows an uprising in Tunisia two weeks ago, in which President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali toppled.'Fear barrier'
After Friday prayers, thousands of people joined protests in Cairo and other cities to demand the end of Mr Mubarak's 30-year rule.
They shouted "down, down with Mubarak" and "the people want the regime to fall".
At several locations, riot police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas, and by using water cannons.
At a square outside a mosque in the suburb of Giza, officers beat supporters of Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei after they surrounded him to protect him, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Mr ElBaradei flew to Cairo on Thursday to join the demonstrators.
BBC Arabic reporter Assad Sawey, in Cairo, said he was arrested and beaten by plainclothes policemen.
"They took my camera away and when they arrested me, they started beating me with steel bars, the ones used here for slaughtering animals," he said.
The police wanted to take him to a state-run hospital, he said, but he refused to go as the hospital is notorious for handing patients back to police once they have been treated.
Reuters news agency said protesters had also gathered outside al-Azhar mosque, and near one of the presidential residences in the capital.
The French government said it had received reports that four French journalists covering the protests in Cairo had been arrested.
In Suez, one of the main focuses of unrest in recent days, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says a full-scale confrontation is taking place between security forces and thousands of protesters who gathered in the centre of the city after Friday prayers.
There were also reports of clashes between protesters and police in Alexandria, Mansoura and Aswan, as well as Minya and Assiut south of Cairo, and al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula.
In anticipation of the unrest, riot police were deployed around the capital, at the entrances to bridges across the River Nile, at Tahrir Square - the scene of protests earlier this week - and other key intersections.
Friday's rallies in Egypt were expected to be the biggest so far, with people urged via internet sites to join after attending prayers.
The organisers called on people to come out in force, stressing that the religion of protesters was not relevant.
Egyptian film-maker Ahmed Rasheed, who was planning to take part in Friday's demonstrations, said people no longer feared arrest.
"We have broken this fear barrier," he told the BBC. "People are taking to the streets, young people, all walks of life, educated, non-educated, higher social classes, lower social classes."
Connections down The protests took place despite widespread disruptions to internet and mobile-phone connections from early on Friday.
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Flashpoints
- Cairo: protests almost daily for the past week
- Alexandria: man set himself on fire on 19 January. Protesters tore down President Mubarak's picture on Tuesday
- Suez: protesters set fire to a government building after officials refused to release a body from the mortuary
- Ismailiya: clashes between protesters and police on Thursday
- Mansoura: protests reported
Mobile operator Vodafone Egypt said in a statement: "All mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas. Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it."
A lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood meanwhile told the BBC that tens of its members had been arrested.Despite an official ban, the Muslim Brotherhood remains Egypt's largest and most organised opposition movement.
Mr Mubarak, 82, has been in office since 1981.
The Egyptian government tolerates little dissent and opposition demonstrations are routinely outlawed.
On Thursday, Mr Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) said it was ready for dialogue but did not offer any concessions.
Safwat al-Sherif, the party's secretary-general, said: "The NDP is ready for a dialogue with the public, youth and legal parties. But democracy has its rules and process. The minority does not force its will on the majority."
The US government, which counts Egypt as one of its most important allies in the Arab world, has so far been cautious in expressing support for either side.
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BBC
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