Egyptians rage against Mubarak. Chanted protesters in Cairo where police fired teargas and used water cannon, and protesters hurled bottles and rocks. Some protesters chased police down side streets and Reuters TV footage showed one policeman joining the demonstrators.
In Alexandria protesters 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.Protesters in Cairo who joined the Web activists' call for action said Gamal tell your father Egyptians hate.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 in demonstrations across the country that may have drawn 20,000 or more people in Cairo and several other cities. It was hard to estimate numbers because demonstrations sprang up in different places.
Egyptian protests usually draw only a few hundred people. The large numbers and the fact that protests in several cities were coordinated in a way not seen before gave Tuesday's events a force unprecedented since Mubarak took office in 1981.
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 said analyst Nabil Abdel-Fattah.
Gathered here to demand our rights. We can't live. Everything is expensive and there is unemployment. We want prices to go down. This government is the reason for our suffering said Ibrahim 33 in Mahalla el Kubra the site of 2008 riots over subsidised bread shortages and price rises.
Other demonstrations took place in Ismailia and Suez, both cities east of Cairo, and in other Nile Delta cities like Mansoura and Tanta. Protesters also gathered in north Sinai.