Police disperse Cairo crowds

Three people have died after a day of violent protests across Egypt demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's rule.

Reports said two protesters were killed during a rally in the city of Suez, while a policeman died in Cairo after he was hit on the head by a rock.

As darkness fell, thousands of anti-government protesters remained on the city's streets demanding the overthrow of Mubarak.

Late into the night, police continued to fire tear gas at the mass of people who remained in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Reports said officers moved in after midnight to make arrests and chased many into side streets.

It was the biggest rally in the country for 25 years and thousands of police were deployed in a massive security operation.

In unprecedented scenes for the Arab world's most populous country, a day of violent protests developed into a tense stand-off between marchers and riot police.

The protesters swept to and fro across the square, some choking from the tear gas, some bleeding from head wounds inflicted by police batons.

Protest organisers and opposition supporters dubbed the planned rally as the "day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment".

Other demonstrations were staged across Egypt as the call spread on Facebook and Twitter - but, by mid-afternoon, reports said Twitter had been blocked.

In Alexandria, protesters flipped over a police vehicle and tore down a picture of 82-year-old Mubarak and one of his son, Gamal.

The protests were planned against a backdrop of growing anger in Egypt over poverty and a deteriorating economy..

There are also questions about Mubarak's possible successor in presidential elections later this year.

Similarities have been drawn with the recent uprising in Tunisia, but so far the percentage of people involved is much lower.

Cairo is a city of 15 million people, in a country of 80 million.

The protests were the biggest anti-government demonstrations in a quarter of a century, but the near 5,000 people who came onto the streets is a tiny fraction of the population.

Egyptians are also fearful of what might follow any uprising.

The only power structures apart from Mubarak's ruling NDP party are the army and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In Tunisia, the people did not fear an Islamist takeover - they trusted the army to support them and not try to take over the country.

Mubarak's regime will now be watching anxiously to see if the protests continue this week and grow in strength.