Egyptian authorities have detained at least 373 people as they try to quash rare protests against the regime of President Abel Fattah al-Sisi, rights monitors said on Monday.

Hundreds demonstrated in Cairo and other cities on Friday in response to online calls for protests against government corruption.

Defying a ban on protests, the demonstrators shouted slogans calling on Mr Sisi to step down.

Security forces moved to disperse the scattered protests on Friday and Saturday, and have reinforced their presence in central Cairo.

In the past few days, 373 people had been arrested, most of them aged between 18 and 41, and detained in Cairo, said Mohamed Lotfy, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms.

Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, said the number of detentions had risen above 400. “Our lawyers can't keep up,” he said.

An interior ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached. A TV host on a pro-government channel said more people would be arrested after the protests based on the law to be held accountable.

Plain clothes security officials have been stopping people in central Cairo and checking social media content on their mobile phones, several witnesses said.