Egyptians reclaim the streets demanding to be rid of dictator Hosni Mubarak

In a day of protests in Egypt tens of thousands of people marched in the streets facing down riot police, water cannon, baton charges and tear gas. The people are chanting for freedom,the right to peaceful assembly, the right for an end to the corrupt administration of Hosni Mubarak in power for nearly 30 years, with the demand that he join the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali in Saudi Arabia.

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Update: Cairo 26 January 2011 4:00 AM: Front to Defend Egypt Protesters

The FDEP said today “the outcome of the protests today was the death of at least three protesters and the injury of tens of Egyptians in addition to hundreds of people kidnapped in central security camps in Cairo and other governorates.

This confirms the Egyptian government's determination to violate the rights of Egyptian citizens to peaceful assembly and protest and to commit crimes against the Egyptian people and citizens who have peacefully assembled in different areas in Cairo and other governorates. Egyptian security used against protesters rubber bullets, tear gas bombs, electric sticks, and water pipes.

The outcome of the protests also confirmed the control Egyptian authorities have over the Internet. A number of news websites were blocked and some of them were disabled. In addition, the Egyptian government with the cooperation of the three communication companies (Mobinil, Vodafone and Etisalat) suspended a number of mobile lines belonging to activists. These included emergency lines of the FDEP.

The outcome of the day was that those injured are being terrorised by arresting those who went to hospitals for medical attention. This was the case in Imbaba hospital. FDEP lawyers were banned from communicating with one of the victims named Amr.

The protests are occurring at multiple sites in around Egypt inclusing in Cairo and Alexandria, Mansoura, Aswan, Quina, Arish, and Mahala. (http://25jan.crowdmap.com/ Map of where the protests are. ) Some estimate number of protesters in Cairo as about 100,000 spread across various sites.

January 25 is a public holiday - ironically called Police Day.

By mid-afternoon the Egyptian Government had blocked twitter, websites of independent newspapers and live streaming application #bambuser. While Egyptians were reclaiming their streets all satellite channels were broadcasting cooking & makeup programs. There are reports that phone lines used by lawyers and activists providing support are also being suspended, and many phone lines have had data services disabled.

@Khaledtron Khaled Akbik reported "Thousands of protesters move from Abdeen Square heading to parliament, chanting "We want a free government."

@ianinegypt said "Protesters say #tunisia is their inspiration and that they hope to make them proud"

@AzizBendriss tweeted "In Cairo the crowd is going: "Ben Ali is calling you, Jeddah hotel is waiting for you..." I guess Hosni Mubarek is next"

At a protest outside the Egyptian embassy in London ther was chant "ya mubaarak ya mubaarak, al-saudiyya fi intizaarak." Protests in Paris (photos)

The Tunisian uprising is an inspiration to people through the arab world sick of the corrupt dictatorships. Like in Tunisia, continued police brutality and repression are motivating people to respond on the street. One of these events was the brutal attack on 28 year old Khaled Said who was tortured to death by 2 Egyptian Policemen in the street. His death has woken up Egyptians to work against the systematic torture in Egypt and the 30 years running emergency law. A facebook site has been set up for international supporters to help in the stand against Police brutality in Egypt. http://www.facebook.com/elshaheeed.co.uk.

Amnesty International USA said on a blog entry: "There have been many demonstrations for political rights in Egypt, but many activists are saying they have never seen the level of excitement that they are seeing around the Jan. 25 demonstrations set for sites throughout Egypt (with some solidarity marches planned in the U.S. and elsewhere - NYC protest). Now the question is how the Egyptian security authorities will respond."

The internet activist group opposed to internet censorship, Anonymous, released a press release early on January 25 asking for western journalists to cover the protests: "What we ask is simple. There are people protesting in Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Albania, Libya, and many other countries at this very moment. Tell us who they are and what it is they want for their country and their people, for now and in the future. So many voices are raised in protest right now and all the world can hear is the noise. Tell us what the people are saying."

One Egyptian government site is now offline - http://www.moiegypt.gov.eg/ , with anouncements on twitter that other Egyption Government sites are being targetted in support of the protests in the street.

If you want up to date news here are some users and tags to follow on twitter for #Egypt protests > #Jan25 #egypt #opegypt #cairoo

The protest is continuing overnight. Protesters have laid seige to police HQ in Mahalla. Electricity has been cut off completely in Tanta to stop protests!!

Mobile phone network has now been cut off in Tahrir area. No cell phone network all over Tahrir, Central Cairo area. During the evening more protesters are pouring into Tahrir square. Those with wireless network connection near Tahrir Av. in Cairo are being asked to remove passwords, so ppl can inform thru the NET. People are being encouraged to evade blocks on twitter and possibly facebook through proxy servers and anonymizers like TOR.

In Alexandria there are reports of old ladies throwing glasses and cooking pans from their home balconies on the police in the streets. Also, Unconfirmed reports that some police soldiers have taken off their police suits and joined protesters.

• Photo: a lone protester stands in front of a riot police line with a sign saying "Enough!"
• Photo: by Abu_Mazen from twitpic