8.23am: Egyptian protesters who took to the streets in their tens of thousands to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule are regrouping and preparing for fresh demonstrations.

Violent clashes in the early hours of the morning in Cairo's central plaza, Tahrir Square, and reports suggest four people died in yesterday's protests, but opponents to the Mubarak regime appear undeterred.

It remains unclear as to how the scale of the protests will compare to yesterday (which was a national holiday) but the mood last night was defiant. Protesters had vowed to occupy Tahrir Square until the regime fell but were dispersed by security forces using tear gas, water cannon and firing on demonstrators, according to eyewitness accounts. Security forces have said they will not permit protesters to reassemble today.

8.38am: This video gives a sense of the incredible scenes in Tahrir Square last night before police violently dispersed the crowds.

9.03am: Gordon Reynolds has written an incredibly powerful first-person account of yesterday's protests. In this segment he describes the scene in Tahrir Square:

On the south end of the square, a military tank rolled into the crowd. At the top of the tank an officer manned a fire hose that hammered down onto the protesters. But no one moved.

The fire tank had not advanced more than 30 yards before a young Egyptian sprinted up the front of the vehicle and scaled up the side. He proceeded to climb up to the top of the tank, inciting ovations from the crowd. When he reached the top of the tank, the officer manning the hose dropped the nozzle and jumped on the back of the protester. The two men toppled off the vehicle and onto the ground, where the man was taken away by other officers.

The moment they fell to the ground, the front 200 protesters dropped to their knees in unison and began to pray while the rest of the crowd looked into the faces of Egyptians staring at the scene from high above in their apartment windows. "Who will be the next hero?" they chanted as they looked up. Then they burst into a new chant: "Come join us, come join us!"

9.16am:

From what's coming out of Twitter from people who were out on the streets yesterday, it seems likely protests will restart in the afternoon. It's currently 11.16am in Egypt.

@ManarMohsen

There will be a march from Medan El Sa3a, Nasr City, to Medan El Tahrir starting at 12:00PM. #Jan25 #Egypt http://on.fb.me/ieynqh

@sandmonkey

Expect protests not to occure b4 afternoon, and definite ones om friday after prayers. #jan25

Also from @sandmonkey

Downtown is empty of protesters, but I counted 20 CS trucks next to omar makram. #jan25

9.25am: There are unconfirmed reports that President Hosni Mubarak's son, Gamal, fled to London yesterday with his wife and daughter. Gamal was considered to be the president's choice as his successor. The Times of India carries the story, based on a report on the US-based Arabic website Akhbar al-Arab.

9.33am: There was anger yesterday at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's pronouncement that "the Egyptian Government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people".

That anger could be amplified by the fact that US president Barack Obama did not refer to the protests in Egypt, a US ally, in his state of the union address last night, while expressing solidarity with the Tunisian people, although he did express general support for democracy. He said:

Tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people.

9.42am: Egypt's stock market is tumbling in the midst of the protests. From the Associated Press:

Egypt's stock market has tumbled over 4% a day after massive anti-government protests engulfed the capital and other cities, leaving three people dead.

The benchmark EGX30 index was down 4.63 percent, to 6,411.94 points by 10.45 am local time Tuesday. Its year-to-date losses stand so far at over 10%.

9.48am: As the Egyptian stock market plummets (see 9.42am), so does the country's currency. From Reuters:

Egypt's pound fell on Wednesday to its lowest level against the US dollar since January 2005 after the biggest anti-government protests of President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.

The pound fell as low as 5.830 against the US currency after closing at 5.816 on Monday before the protests in Cairo and several other cities across the country.

"At the opening there was exaggerated buying of the dollar based on yesterday's protest," said a Cairo-based trader who asked not to be named. "But that's only in the beginning. I think people now are calmer."

Cairo's streets returned to normal on Wednesday after unprecedented demonstrations demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, as protest leaders asked followers to regroup for a second day of action.

The benchmark Egyptian stock index (.EGX30) saw its biggest drop since last May.

"The Egyptian pound is at the mercy of the news for now and it's only chance to strengthen is if the euro continues to stay at a high level," said another Cairo trader.

9.58am: Egypt's interior ministry has warned of zero tolerance for protests today. From the Associated Press:

Riot police deployed across the Egyptian capital on Wednesday in anticipation of fresh anti-government protests a day after thousands demonstrated nationwide to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule of nearly 30 years.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that police would not tolerate any gatherings, marches or protests Wednesday, suggesting that security forces would immediately resort to force to at the first sign of protesters gathering.

Thousands of policemen in riot gear and backed by armored vehicles could be seen on bridges across the Nile, at major intersections and squares as well as outside key installations like the state TV building and the headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National democratic Party in central Cairo.

10.09am: The Daily News Egypt has dramatic video showing the police crackdown on protesters last night. Tear gas cannisters can be seen and heard being fired. Police officers can be seen hitting demonstrators with batons and in footage. starting at 2m 6s, they can be seen dragging a man along the ground and then kicking him.

10.17am: Reuters says a fourth person has died as result of yesterday's protests. There were reports elsewhere earlier that four people had died but other news organisations referred to three deaths. Reuters writes:

A fourth Egyptian died in hospital on Wednesday as a result of protests the previous day that were staged to call for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, a medical source said.

Gharib Abdelaziz Abdellatif, 45, died in Suez, east of Cairo, the source said. Two other protesters died in Suez on Tuesday due to rubber bullets. A police officer was killed on Tuesday in Cairo as a result of a stone hitting his head

10.21am: The Arabist reports that the Egyptian opposition has made its first move amid the wave of opposition to Mubarak:

Above is a picture of al-Sayed Badawi, the president of the Wafd party (the most established of Egypt's legal opposition parties) appearing on al-Jazeera and making the following demands:

1. A new national unity government

2. The dissolution of parliament

3. New elections under a proportional representation system

My gut reaction: this is either a significant break with the Wafd's behavior for over 30 years, or he is making this announcement on behalf of the regime. Why the conspiracy theory? Because he doesn't mention the question of the presidency, a chief demand of the protestors. Perhaps he should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Meanwhile, the National Association for Change has made its own demands, including asking Mubarak to step down and Gamal to be disqualified from the presidency, as well as the dissolution of the parliament. Other groups have other demands, including a new minimum wage and the firing of the interior minister.

These people should be coordinating — and remember they are not the ones who protested tonight.

10.41am: An update from Jack Shenker, the Guardian's man in Cairo who was in the middle of yesterday's demonstrations:

Protesters are calling for a return to Tahrir this afternoon, where very strong security is in place ready to shut down any sign of protest. There's a massive police presence on the streets throughout the city, and reports of small groups of young men being rounded up by state security officers at random locations across downtown. Twitter remains blocked for most people - the restriction has been confirmed by Twitter itself - and phone and internet services are still intermittent, although my home net seems to be working fine at the moment. The Egyptian authorities have put out statements blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for last night's unrest, and claim they allowed Egyptians "to voice their demands and exercise their freedom of expression". All protests today are officially banned. The stock market has taken a huge tumble - 21 billion Egyptian pounds (£0.2bn) within the first 15 minutes of trading.

10.51am: This video shows amazing footage from yesterday of a Tiananmen Square-style protest, a solitary man in Egypt blocking the path of a police lorry spraying water cannon. It's one of the most powerful images I've seen so far of yesterday's protests.

11.05am: Details from Twitter of more people planning to defy the orders by the Egyptian interior ministry not to protest.

@draddee

It's 12.31 Cairo time, rn. University protests are planned for 2 pm. Not till then will we be able to see how this day will develop. #jan25

@Farrah3m

Everyone: there will be a protest in 6th of October city at 2 pm in Medan Alhasry intersection #jan25 #egypt

11.13am: Professor Juan Cole, an expert on US and Middle East politics from the University of Michigan has blogged on the significance of yesterday's protests and says the reaction of the military in Egypt is crucial, and could be very different than in Tunisia:

One question is whether these demonstrations are food riots as in 1977 or whether now they want more, i.e. political reform. (Political reformers certainly backed the protests, but these groups, such as al-Ghad (Tomorrow) and supporters of former IAEA head Muhammad Elbaradei, are small and previous calls by them for masses to come out have gone largely unheeded. The Muslim Brotherhood did not actively back the demonstrations, though it allowed individual members to participate. These crowds were mainly newbies without strong political affiliation).

A second is whether the army and security forces will stand unified behind the Mubarak regime, as they have in the past. In Tunisia, the army refused to fire on demonstrators on behalf of Ben Ali. But Mubarak is a former air force general, who came out of the military to rule the country, as part of a military regime established in 1952. A caution: Egypt is not Tunisia.

11.36am: A good cartoon of Mubarak has been created by Carlos Latuff.

11.45am: Reuters reports the start of small-scale protests today:

Dozens of Egyptian protesters gathered in central Cairo on Wednesday, a day after unprecedented demonstrations that called for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30 years in office, a security source said.

The source said protesters gathered outside a court complex in the centre of the capital, a place where some of Tuesday's protests also began. Security remains tight across the city and the Interior Ministry said it would not let protests resume.

11.57am: Some fascinating comments on Egypt from Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Britain and the United States. Remember Saudi took in Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali when he fled and many Egyptians hope that Mubarak will follow him there (see 11.36am). Faisal, from a country that is not exactly a shining example of democracy itself, does not appear to show much support for Mubarak, suggesting it is for the Egyptian leader to submit to the will of the people. He told Reuters Insider television:

In Egypt, I really can't say where this is going to go. Whether they can catch up as leaders to what the population is aiming (for) is still to be seen.

He added:

I think developments in Tunis took everybody by surprise. Each country has its own criteria and its own dynamics. I think we will have to wait a day or two until things clear up to wait and see how these demonstrations (in Egypt) are going to go.

12.03pm: In a brief diversion from Egypt, Interpol has a warrant for the arrest of the former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. From Reuters:

Tunisia has asked Interpol to help arrest ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other members of the family who fled the country during an uprising, the justice minister said on Wednesday. Lazhar Karoui Chebbi told a news conference that Tunisia wanted to try Ben Ali and his clan for "possessing of (expropriated) property and transferring foreign currency abroad". He named seven members of Ben Ali's family in Tunisian custody but said that Imed Trabelsi, a nephew of Leila Trabelsi, and Sakher al-Materi, Ben Ali's son-in-law, had fled abroad. He said the name of Leila's brother Belhassan Trabelsi had also been presented to Interpol. Chebbi said six members of Ben Ali's presidential guard in custody, including Ali Seriati, would be tried for "conspiring against state security and inciting people against each other with weapons".

He said no legal action was in the works so far against Ben Ali's Interior Minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem who led efforts to crush the uprising when it broke in late December. Ben Ali fired him a few days before he fled.

12.17pm: Thanks @geof24 for posting this comment below the line:

I've seen groups of youths making their way along Ramsis Street in Ghamra towards Downtown Cairo looking to join the protests indicated on the We are All Khaled Said page.

The school in which I teach is sending students home early. Attendance is only about 60% after yesterday's events.

The We are Khaled Said group, named in tribute to a man allegedly killed by two Egyptian plainclothes police officers after he posted a video online showing them dividing up the spoils of a drug haul, is calling for protests after Friday prayers. Of today's protests it's latest update says:

14 protesters arrested in Monoufya. Many families can't find their sons since last night arrests. Police is literally randomly arresting young people in Tahrir square. Several arrests and attacks on protesters in 6 October. Egyptian police will soon be having problem finding spaces in civil prisons and military prisons.... That will not silent us. This will bring more people to join us.

12.38pm: My colleague Sam Jones tells me the Home Office has declined to comment on reports that Gamal Mubarak and his family have fled to Britain (see 9.25am). A spokeswoman told the Guardian:

We do not comment on individual journeys to and from the UK

12.48pm: @sandmonkey has been consistently tweeting from the protests. Here are some of the latest:

Everyone in cairo. Head to lawyers syndicate at abdel khale2 sarwat. GO NOW! #jan25 Midan el sa3a is confirmed as well, but the are a small crowd and need ur help. if u r at nasr city, go #jan25 Ok, here is the confirmed reports: 6 october 7osary is on, but the secuirty forces there is cracking down on protesters. #jan25

12.59pm: From what we can gather it seems that the protests have been on a fairly small scale so far.

Reuters has these details:

Brief attempts by protesters to gather again on Wednesday outside a court complex in Cairo and in the industrial city of Mahallah el-Kubra were quickly broken up. In Tahrir square, police questioned and moved on anyone who appeared to loiter.

And from the Associated Press

In the southern city of Assiut, eyewitnesses said riot police set upon some 100 activists staging an anti-government protest Wednesday, beating them up with batons and arresting nearly half of them...Thousands of policemen in riot gear and backed by armored vehicles took up posts on bridges across the Nile, at major intersections and squares as well as outside key installations like the state TV building and the headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National democratic Party in central Cairo.

1.04pm: The Egyptian consulate in Britain was more forthcoming than the UK Home Office (see 12.38pm) on the reports that Gamal Mubarak (son of Hosni) and his family have fled to London amid the protests, my colleague Sam Jones tells me. A spokesman said to him:

We deny it. I assume he is in Cairo, but he's not in London. That's the truth of the matter.

The spokesman, who said the reports had originated on the US-based website, Akhbar Al-Arab, would not comment on whether Gamal Mubarak had any plans to flee Egypt.

1.11pm: Twitter had already been blocked in Egypt, forcing people to use alternative IP addresses. Now Facebook, which hosts the popular opposition movement pages We are all Khaled Said and the April 6 Youth Movement, has also reportedly been blocked.

1.14pm: A UK demonstration to show solidarity with the Egyptian protesters is planned outside the Egypt Embassy in London today between 3pm and 6pm.

2.05pm: First Twitter was blocked in Egypt, then Facebook, now there are accusations that activists' mobile phones are being blocked

@RamyRoof

companies in #Egypt: @VodafoneEgypt, @Mobinil, @EtisalatMisr helped the gov to suspend number of mobile lines belonging to activists. #Jan25

@justicentric

CONFIRMED: Egypt is suspending cell phone lines of activists #JAN25

2.23pm: The main demonstrations in Cairo at the moment seem to be outside the journalists' and lawyers' headquarters respectively:

@ashrafkhalil

#Jan25 maybe 200 protestors on journo syndicate steps surrounded by police. Another 100 being held back half a block away.

Sky News' Tim Marshall (@ITwitius) is also in Cairo and tweeting:

Cairo. Another different 1000 now outside lawyers hq. Traffic stopped.



He has also reported baton charges.

There are also reports of a demonstrations in Alexandria and Mubarak's hometown of Minufiya.

2.31pm: "The group Anonymous, known for staging web attacks on PayPal and MasterCard in support of Wikileaks, has called for volunteers to stage a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against web sites run by the Egyptian government", the International Business Times reports:

The group has asked, via the IRC chat rooms, that users access a web-based version of a program called Low Orbit Ion Cannon or download it, according to reports from netcraft.com, which publishes news on online security. The software stages DDoS attacks and was originally written as a stress-testing application. The sites slated for attack, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of the Interior appear to be up and running, so if a DDoS attack was staged it hasn't been effective.

I've been asked to point out that such attacks are illegal!

2.43pm: An update from Jack Shenker, reporting from the Guardian, in Cairo:

Things are kicking off again in downtown Cairo as protesters attempting to rally are met with fierce police resistance. Security forces are repeating yesterday's tactics, using sound bombs and tear gas to disperse crowds; protesters that can get access to twitter are calling desperately for help. There are reports of hundreds of beatings and arrests, with many fearful that violence will intensify as darkness begins to fall.

3.03pm: If you're wondering why Jack Shenker, reporting from Cairo for the Guardian, has been relatively quiet today, he was arrested and beaten by the police in the early hours of the morning. He was taken in the back of a police van where he used his dictaphone to record some remarkable audio describing what was happening around him and to interview other arrestees. The whole article and audio can be found by clicking on this link.

Here's a taste:

In the distance, riot police could be seen advancing from Tahrir. I called the news desk to report that violence was spreading; while I was on the phone the police began to charge, sending me and several hundred protestors running. A short distance away I stopped, believing it safe; a number of ordinarily dressed young men were running in my direction and I assumed them to be protestors also fleeing the police charge behind them. Yet as two of them reached me I was punched by both simultaneously and thrown to the ground, before being hauled back up by the scruff of the neck and dragged towards the police lines. The men were burly and wore leather jackets – up close I could see they were amin dowla, plain-clothes officers from Egypt's notorious state security service. All attempts I made to tell them in Arabic and English that I was an international journalist were met with more punches and slaps; around me I could make out other isolated protestors also being hauled along, receiving the same treatment. We were being dragged towards a security building on the edge of the square, just two streets away from my apartment, and as I approached the doorway of the building other security officers took flying kicks and punches at me. I spotted a high-ranking uniformed officer and shouted at him that I was a British journalist. He responded by walking over and punching me twice, saying in Arabic, "Fuck you and fuck Britain".

3.24pm: Lots of people tweeting about police firing teargas at protesters.

@ianinegypt

Fires burning on Galaa street. Tear gas being used on protesters. #jan25

@ManarMohsen

Smoke from Galaa street. Area of the press syndicate looks like a war zone, with broken bricks covering the ground. More info soon. #Jan25

3.33pm: Here's the latest take from Reuters on the fresh clashes:

Police used riot trucks on Wednesday to break up a crowd of as many as 3,000 people who had gathered outside a Cairo court complex, one of the places where demonstrations had started on Tuesday. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the morgue in Suez demanding the release of one of the three bodies, witnesses said. Protesters said he was killed by several gunshots and demanded an autopsy. "The government has killed my son," the Suez protesters outside the morgue chanted. "Oh Habib, tell your master, your hands are soiled with our blood," they said, referring to Interior Minister Habib al-Adli. Hundreds of protesters also gathered outside Cairo's journalists' syndicate, where the authorities allow regular protests. Police beat some with batons when they tried to break a cordon. Protesters on buildings threw stones at police below. The state news agency said 90 people were arrested while trying to gather in Tahrir square in central Cairo, the focus of the biggest demonstrations. A judicial source said 64 people were detained in Alexandria.

I'm going to hand the blog to my colleague Paul Owen now.

3.41pm: Hi, Paul Owen here, taking over from Haroon Siddique.

The group Anonymous, best known for its cyber-attacks on PayPal and MasterCard in support of WikiLeaks, has issued a threat to the Egyptian government to "attack your government websites" and "make sure the international media sees the horrid reality you impose upon your people" if Cairo does not "offer free access to uncensored media in your entire country". You can read the full message here.

3.45pm: Mostafa Mourad has tweeted about which websites have been blocked in Egypt.

@cnn @foxnews @washingtonpost @guardian Google, Youtube, Facebook and twitter blocked in Egypt NOW so the world don't see what's happening Mostafa Mourad

MostafaMourad

(4.05pm correction: I mistakenly thought this tweet was saying CNN, Fox, the Washington Post and the Guardian were blocked too – apologies.)

3.46pm: The Reuters news agency has just filed a line saying that the Egyptian authorities have arrested 500 demonstrators. It attributes this to an interior ministry source.

3.49pm: In the comments, GeorgeWeyman points out his attempts to set up a Twitter translation service to enable Arabic speakers to read English tweets and vice versa. Click here to have a look.

3.53pm: In the comments, akadono makes some interesting points about western support for Arab dictatorships:



Citizens of western countries should definitely expect their governments not to actively support dictatorial regimes. There is a question though with Egypt if the popular anger with Mubarak is strictly because he runs an undemocratic regime, or whether it is his policies that are unpopular.

Under Nasser, Egypt was a one-party state that clamped down on Islamist opposition. Nasser is often held up as a heroic figure in the Arab world, but having crowds on the streets chanting your name does not equal democracy. Outlets and protection for dissenting opinions also define democracy. In that sense Egypt has moved from a popular (?) dictatorship feared by the west under Nasser, to an unpopular dictatorship on good terms with the west under Mubarak. Is the fault of the US then that it has supported an unpopular regime, rather than a dictatorial one? Saddam's Iraq famously moved from being softly pro-Soviet in the 70s, through US backing in the 80s, to US opposition after 1991 - and all the while the people of Iraq were subject to the same style of dictatorship. People like George Galloway made the opposite journey - opposing Saddam when he was doing deals with Rumsfeld, and offering excuses for him when Rumsfeld was planning to oust him. The US has provided backing to theocratic states such as Saudi Arabia, and much more secular ones such as Tunisia. Oil rich and oil poor. I hope you see why I've been slightly cynical about anger at the west for supporting Arab dictatorships. Often the anger seems to be more that they have not been supporting the right kind of Arab dictatorships.

3.56pm: My colleagues on the video desk have sent this mobile phone footage of protesters throwing missiles at police and tearing down pictures of the president and his son.

4.01pm: Twitter spokespeople have been posting about being blocked in Egypt on the company's own Twitter feed:

We can confirm that Twitter was blocked in Egypt around 8am PT today. It is impacting both Twitter.com & applications. (1/2) Re Egypt block: We believe that the open exchange of info & views benefits societies & helps govts better connect w/ their people. (2/2) @abdu we will make small statements here, but prefer to let our users speak for Twitter - esp those who understand situations better than us @abdu we mean that we prefer users in Egypt (or elsewhere) to speak for how Twitter is being used (or not) instead of us. @abdu we mean that we prefer users in Egypt (or elsewhere) to speak for how Twitter is being used (or not) instead of us.

4.03pm: My colleagues in the graphics department have produced this interactive explaining what happened to Jack Shenker when he was arrested in Cairo yesterday.

4.06pm: The Associated Press news agency has just filed a story from the Hague saying that Dutch police stopped a man setting himself on fire in front of the Egyptian embassy there.

Police say the 52-year-old was carrying a banner, had soaked himself in flammable liquid and was trying to spark a lighter when they blinded him with pepper spray and wrestled him to the ground. In a statement Wednesday, police said the man of Egyptian ancestry has been taken into custody and his motives are unknown. The incident occurred while Egypt's government is facing widespread protests. Several people in Egypt have set themselves alight recently, replicating the actions of a Tunisian vegetable seller. His self-immolation sparked protests that brought down Tunisia's government.

4.09pm: According to my colleague Sam Jones, Vodafone has also had a problem with its customers being blocked from using Twitter in Egypt yesterday, although the company thought it had been resolved. For more click here.

4.13pm: My colleague Peter Beaumont has just arrived in Cario and sends the following:

Quite dangerous. Just seen police car have its windows bricked out, now plainclothes cops piling in with iron bars.

4.31pm: The Associated Press is reporting that 860 protesters have been "rounded up" by police since yesterday. In a report on today's anti-government demonstrations, which took place in defiance of an official ban, police used tear gas and beat protesters to disperse them. The demonstrators are demanding that Hosni Mubarak stands down as president and the government provides some solution to Egypt's economic problems, including serious poverty, rising prices and high unemployment.

The news agency reports:

After nightfall today, more than 2,000 demonstrators were marching on a major downtown boulevard along the Nile when dozens of riot police with helmets and shields charged the crowd. It was a scene repeated throughout the day wherever demonstrators tried to gather. The crackdown by authorities brought harsh words from European leaders, who expressed concern and said the events underline the need for democratisation and respect for human and civil rights. However, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton did not criticise Egypt's government – a key US ally in the Middle East – but only said the country was stable and Egyptians have the right to protest while urging all parties to avoid violence. Activists used social networking sites to call for fresh demonstrations Wednesday. But Facebook, a key tool used to organize protests, appeared to be at least partially blocked in the afternoon. On Tuesday, Twitter and cell phones appeared to be sporadically blocked as well. The interior ministry warned today that police would not tolerate any gatherings, and thousands were out on the streets poised to crack down quickly on any new signs of unrest after clashes yesterday that killed three demonstrators and one police officer. Early today, thousands of policemen in riot gear and backed by armored vehicles took up posts in Cairo on bridges across the Nile, at major intersections and squares as well as outside key installations such as the state TV building and the headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party. Police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of several hundred activists on a main commercial thoroughfare in central Cairo, chasing them through side streets as both sides pelted each other with rocks with hundreds of onlookers watching anxiously. Earlier, dozens gathered outside the Journalists' Union in downtown Cairo and renewed the chants heard against Mubarak throughout Tuesday's much larger protests. "Mubarak is leaving, leaving. Oh Egyptian people, be brave and join us," they chanted. As police charged the crowd, beating them with sticks, they chanted "peaceful, peaceful." In the city of Suez east of Cairo, an angry crowd of about 1,000 people gathered outside the city's morgue demanding to take possession and bury the body of one of three protesters who died in clashes on Tuesday. In the southern city of Assiut, eyewitnesses said riot police set upon some 100 activists staging an anti-government protest Wednesday, beating them up with batons and arresting nearly half of them. "Down, down Hosni Mubarak," chanted the crowd. "Oh, people, join us or you will be next." Security officials said up to 200 protesters were detained early today. More were likely to be detained as authorities review police videotapes of the protests, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

4.40pm: Here is an afternoon summary:

• There has been a second day of protests in Egypt against the government of Hosni Mubarak. The demonstrators want Mubarak to stand down as president and want the government to provide some solution to the country's economic problems, including serious poverty, rising prices and high unemployment.

• Police have rounded up 860 protesters since yesterday, the Associated Press is reporting. Again they used tear gas and beatings on the demonstrators. Facebook, Twitter and mobile phones have been sporadically blocked.

• European leaders have criticised Egypt, but Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, did not condemn the Cairo government, a key US ally in the Middle East.

• Anonymous, the group that conducted cyber-attacks in support of WikiLeaks, has threatened to do the same to the Egyptian government if it does not stop censoring the media.

4.48pm: Here is some more detail about European reaction to the crackdown. Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, said he was "very concerned" and called on all concerned to show restraint:

The situation in Egypt must not escalate. The current situation in Egypt ... underlines the necessity of democratisation, of respect for human and civil rights. We are seeing in the last few weeks that a country's stability is not endangered by granting civil rights; it is through the refusal of civil and human rights that societies become unstable.

The office of Lady Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, said Egyptian authorities should listen to their people, deal with their problems and respect their right to demonstrate, urging the "Egyptian authorities to respect and to protect the right of Egyptian citizens to manifest their political aspirations".

As reported earlier, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state said only that "the Egyptian Government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people".

4.48pm: In Cairo, Peter Beaumont reports that there are demonstrators around the Ramses Hilton hotel by the Nile in the city centre, a hotel full of tourists. A police car passing one group has had its windows stoned out as it was driving, Peter reports.

But it seems after yesterday police are not taking any chances today. There are a lot of riot police in uniform but also a large number of police in plain clothes armed with sticks and some with metal bars who have been charging into groups of protesters.

4.56pm: The US has expanded on its position on Egypt a little. The White House said today it was keeping a close watch on the protests there and said that the US backed Egyptians' "universal rights" of assembly and speech, according to the Reuters news agency.

Asked whether the US still supported Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Egypt remained a "close and important ally". Gibbs said:

We are monitoring closely the situation in Egypt. We continue to believe first and foremost that all of the parties should refrain from violence. We are supportive of the universal rights of assembly [and] speech. Again, we would stress quite clearly for all involved that expressions should be free from violence. This is an important time for the government to demonstrate its responsibilities to the people of Egypt in recognising those universal rights.

5.02pm: Peter Beaumont also reports that Twitter seemed to be working when he arrived at 4pm, but he cannot access Facebook. The Guardian's website is working fine.

5.30pm: Hilary Clinton, The US secretary of state, has made her most blunt comments to date urging Mubarak to undertake reforms. This comes after anger from some that she failed to condemn the Egyptian government yesterday. Today she told reporters:

We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications including on social media sites. We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.

5.51pm: William Hague, the foreign secretary, has today called on the authorities and protesters in Egypt to show restraint and avoid violence. He urged the Egyptian authorities to "listen to the concerns" of demonstrators. Hague said:



We deeply regret the loss of life in the Egyptian protests. All parties should show restraint and avoid violence. It is important that the government listens to the concerns of those demonstrating and respects rights of freedom of assembly and expression. Openness, transparency and political freedom are important tenets of stability. We urge the government and demonstrators to seek a peaceful way forward.

The Foreign Office has also today updated its travel advice, counselling UK citizens to avoid political gatherings and demonstrations. Hague said the advice would be kept under constant review.

7.41pm: Peter Beaumont reports from Cairo, where demonstrators are playing "cat and mouse" with police.

Riot police and plain clothes officers armed with staves and bars broke up a demonstration outside one of Cairo's biggest tourist hotels, the Ramses Hilton, on the banks of the river Nile. Tonight groups of demonstrators and police are still playing a violent game of cat and mouse through the city centre's streets – with protesters quickly re-grouping after being broken up. The sound of police sirens and detonating tear gas canisters could be heard across the city, in the biggest protests against the regime of 82-year-old president Hosni Mubarak in three decades. Protests took place across Egypt, with gatherings broken up by police outside a number of locations in the capital, including Cairo's supreme court, Nasser metro station and on Ramses Street. Police continued to round up scores of people, including photographers and reporters covering the demonstrations. The latest clashes occurred on a day when officials announced that 860 people had been rounded up following mass protests against Mubarak on Tuesday, when at least four people died. The crackdown by authorities brought harsh words from European leaders, who expressed concern and said the events underlined the need for democratisation and respect for human and civil rights.

That's all for the live blog today. You can read Peter's full story here, while any major developments will be on guardian.co.uk.

9.23pm: Two people have died in Cairo, the Associated Press news agency is reporting, as violence continues tonight, where night has fallen. AP says:

Security officials say one protester and one policeman have been killed in an anti-government protest in central Cairo, bringing to six the number of people killed in two days of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's regime. The policeman and the protester were killed by rocks thrown by both sides in a clash in a poor neighborhood in the center of the capital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to journalists.

11.12pm: Some confusion over the two people who have died in Cairo, with Reuters reporting that both died in a car crash, rather than in clashes between protesters and police.

Earlier reports quoted a security official as saying a protester and a policeman were killed during the protests, however Reuters quotes a second official giving a different account.

The official said a policeman and a woman bystander died after being hit by a car near the centre of Cairo. Another man was injured. The official said that the crash was not linked to anti-government protests across the city.

"An investigation is under way," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity as is normal in Egypt.

11.43pm: A summary of what's happened so far today in Egypt:

• Police have fought with thousands of Egyptians who defied a government ban to protest against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-old rule. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas, dragging away demonstrators.

• A protester and a police officer have been killed in central Cairo. There is confusion as to whether they died in the protests or as the result of a car crash. Clashes continued in other cities around Egypt – in Suez protesters torched a government building.

• The scenes were unprecedented in the country, one of the United States' closest Middle East allies, and follow the overthrow two weeks ago of another long-serving Arab strongman, Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, in a popular revolt.

• Activists had called on people to rally again after a "Day of Wrath" on Tuesday of anti-government rallies across Egypt in which three protesters and one policeman were killed. There are calls to continue smaller scale protests through Thursday ahead of national protests on Friday.

12.01am: Alarming reports are coming in from Suez, where protests continued today. Three protesters were killed in the city yesterday.

Reports say all landlines, mobile phone networks and web access has been cut off.

This picture purportedly shows Al Arbeen Police Headquarters on fire in the city, while hundreds of people are tweeting concerns on Twitter.

This video apparently shows efforts to put out the blaze:

Some social network users now suggesting the Egyptian Army has moved in on the city. All calls to landlines and mobile phones are reportedly failing.

12.09am: The We are all Khaled Said opposition protest group is updating its Facebook page constantly. Here's its latest post on Suez.

Urgent News: Suez is completely cut off. Police has been evacuated. Protesters there are very angry. The army is being brought in according to reports. Some sad speculations say that a massive crackdown will take place in Suez on protesters which could end up with a REAL Massacre. Suez now is Egypt's Sidi Bouzid.

12.36am: A confusing picture coming out of Suez. Reports that the police headquarters and a chemical factory having been set on fire, with some suggesting the army has moved into the city to quell protesters, however some tweets disputing this:

@theydontneedme_ The army is not any where near the action in #suez like some say. #jan25

@mShady Vodafone mobile network is back in #Suez #Jan25 #25Jan

However @theydontneedme has tweeted saying she has been at home for an hour, so things could have changed. @mShady's tweet – alerted to me by @Oxenstierna_IRL, monitoring events from Scotland – is backed up by others from Egypt saying Vodafone was the only network to remain working throughout the telephone block.

1.21am: CNN reporting that two newspaper website have been shut down:

The Committee to Protect Journalists also said Wednesday that Egyptian authorities have shut down the websites of two popular independent newspapers, Al-Dustour and El-Badil.

@eacusa has tweeted a link to this Youtube video, claiming it shows scenes in Suez this evening:

I don't read Arabic so can't make out the uploader's description or the comments beneath the video. If you can shed any light email adam.gabbatt@guardian.co.uk

1.40am: Layth Hanball emails with a translation of the Arabic description of the video posted at 1.21am: "Please share the video people, and there are more on the way"

Layth says the highest rated comment (you can see them if you view the video on Youtube) is from popular songs sung during 20th century wars in Egypt:

Mum, if I died don't cry, I would die so my country can live, be happy mother and be proud of me, and remember me on the day of victory, and teach my young siblings to sacrifice like me

The second most popular comment reads simply:



God be with you

1.53am: It's approaching 4am in Suez and becoming increasingly difficult to ascertain exactly what is going on in the city. Some reports are suggesting the military has a presence in the city, but others deny it.

Fires have reportedly been started at the Police Headquarters in the city – earlier I posted a video purporting to show the blaze being put out – and at a chemical factory, and there are reports of restrictions to telephone and internet services, although some networks, including Vodafone, appear to now be working.

We're unable to confirm some of the reports coming from Suez, and it looks as if it will take daylight to reveal what is actually happening in the city. This blog is closing now, but we'll have more on tonight's events tomorrow morning – check back for updates.

Hope all in Egypt are safe and well.