[Read more about Friday’s protests in Egypt.]

• Scattered protests calling for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt to step down broke out in multiple cities across Egypt on Friday afternoon, the second Friday in a row of rare demonstrations challenging his authoritarian rule.

• In Warraq, a working-class Cairo neighborhood on an island in the Nile, thousands joined a street protest after midday prayers, according to live videos posted on Facebook and a local journalist and activist who had spoken to protesters there. “No matter how, we’ll bring Sisi down,” the crowds chanted.

• There also appeared to be protests in Qena, in southern Egypt.

• Downtown Cairo, where protesters were expected to converge as they have in the past, was teeming with security forces and policemen. They had closed off Tahrir Square and nearby roads, making it difficult for protesters to reach the area.

• Mr. el-Sisi returned to Cairo from a weeklong trip to the United Nations on Friday morning, telling supporters who greeted him at the airport, “Don’t be worried.” State media broadcast video of a pro-Sisi rally in Cairo where marchers waved Egyptian flags and held up portraits of the president.