Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Jon Leyne: "Anybody gathering here in Cairo, the police have swooped on them" 
 
 About 700 people have been arrested throughout Egypt in a crackdown against anti-government protests, security officials say. 
 
 The arrests came as police clashed with protesters in two cities following Tuesday's unprecedented protests. 
 
 One protester and one policeman were killed as police broke up rallies in Cairo, and in Suez a government building was reportedly set on fire. 
 
 Public gatherings would no longer be tolerated, the interior ministry said. 
 
 Anyone taking to the streets against the government would be prosecuted, it added. 
 
 The BBC's John Leyne in Cairo says the authorities are responding in familiar fashion, treating a political crisis as a security threat. 
 
 Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was quoted as saying the government was committed to "freedom of expression by legitimate means", state news agency Mena reported. Police had acted with restraint, he said. 
 
 However, Washington has called on the Egyptian government to lift its ban on demonstrations. 
 
 I want to see an end to this dictatorship, 30 years of Mubarak is enough - we've had enough of the state of emergency, prices are going up and up Mostapha al-Shafey , Protester 
 
 Protesters have been inspired by the recent uprising in Tunisia, vowing to stay on the streets until the government falls. 
 
 They have been using social networking sites to call for fresh demonstrations, but both Facebook and microblogging site Twitter appear to have been periodically blocked inside Egypt. 
 
 The government denied it was blocking the sites. 
 
 Cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady said it respected freedom of expression and "would not resort to such methods", Reuters news agency reported. 
 
 In other developments: 
 
 Egyptian Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid cancels his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland 
 
 Activists have called on protesters to observe "Anger Friday", by going to rallies after praying in mosques and churches 
 
 In the northern city of Machala, police have cordoned off the headquarters of the Democratic Front opposition party, which is threatening a hunger strike 
 
 Hundreds have been arrested in Alexandria, activists say, as police prevent organised rallies 
 
 Stone-throwing 
 
 Following a "day of revolt" across Egypt on Tuesday, in which four people died, protesters attempted to stage new demonstrations in Cairo on Wednesday. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Police moved to break up demonstrations as they happened 
 
 There were scuffles outside the journalists' union building in central Cairo as hundreds of people gathered to protest. 
 
 Police beat some with batons and fired tear gas when they tried to break through a cordon. 
 
 Protesters burned tyres and threw stones at police. 
 
 Reuters news agency reported more clashes outside a central court complex in the city. 
 
 Witnesses said riot police had been charging demonstrators throughout the day wherever in Cairo they happened to gather. 
 
 Doctors said a policeman and a protester were killed in the clashes, apparently during stone-throwing in a poor neighbourhood of the city. 
 
 However, security officials said the deaths were unrelated to the protests. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Suez, protesters threw petrol bombs at a government building, setting parts of it on fire, witnesses said. 
 
 The headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party in the city was also attacked. 
 
 Earlier, protests were held outside the morgue where the body of a victim of Tuesday's protests was being kept. At least 55 people were injured in the city. 
 
 One of Tuesday's demonstrators, Mostapha al-Shafey, told the BBC he planned to join protests again on Wednesday. 
 
 "I want to see an end to this dictatorship. Thirty years of Mubarak is enough. We've had enough of the state of emergency. Prices are going up and up," he said. 
 
 Demonstrations are illegal in Egypt, which has been ruled by President Mubarak since 1981. The government tolerates little dissent and opposition demonstrations are routinely outlawed. 
 
 Social media's role 
 
 Tuesday's protests were co-ordinated through a Facebook page, where organisers say they are taking a stand against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment. One page called for protesters all over Egypt to gather after prayers on Friday. 
 
 However, Wednesday brought reports that Facebook was being blocked inside Egypt. 
 
 Twitter also played a key part, with supporters inside and outside Egypt using the search term #jan25 to post news on Tuesday, but it was blocked later in the day. 
 
 BBC technology correspondent Mark Gregory said that while this clampdown had undoubtedly restricted access to information, technically minded protesters had found ways of evading the restrictions. 
 
 Many have stayed in touch by routing their messages through proxy servers - web facilities based in other countries. 
 
 The government blamed the violence on the banned Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, although this group was reported to have been ambivalent about the protests. 
 
 One opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, had called on Egyptians to take part in the protests. 
 
 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications including on social media sites. 
 
 "We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people." 
 
 Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted from power and fled the country earlier this month, after weeks of protests in which dozens of people were killed. 
 
 Egypt has many of the same social and political problems that brought about the unrest in Tunisia - rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption. 
 
 However, the population of Egypt has a much lower level of education than Tunisia. Illiteracy is high and internet penetration is low. 
 
 There are deep frustrations in Egyptian society, our Cairo correspondent says, adding that Egypt is widely seen to have lost power, status and prestige in the three decades of President Mubarak's rule. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jon Leyne says the anger of protesters took police by surprise (The mobile phone footage in this video was sent to the BBC by members of the public) 
 
 At least three people are reported to have been killed during a day of rare anti-government protests in Egypt. 
 
 In Cairo, where the biggest rallies were held, state TV said a policeman had died in clashes. Two protesters died in Suez, doctors there said. 
 
 Thousands joined the protests after an internet campaign inspired by the uprising in Tunisia. 
 
 In central Cairo, police starting using tear gas early on Wednesday in an attempt to disperse the crowds. 
 
 Thousands of demonstrators remained in the city centre around Tahrir Square late into the night, vowing to camp out overnight. 
 
 There were appeals on Facebook for food and blankets for those staying put. 
 
 But police moved in at 0100 local time (2300 GMT Tuesday), using tear gas and driving protesters into nearby streets, with reports that some people were beaten by police. 
 
 As dawn neared, Tahrir Square was reported to be empty of demonstrators, with cleaners removing rocks and litter as police looked on. 
 
 Twitter blocked 
 
 Activists had called for a "day of revolt" in a web message. Protests are uncommon in Egypt, which President Hosni Mubarak has ruled since 1981, tolerating little dissent. 
 
 At the scene The demonstrations in Egypt were clearly inspired by what happened in Tunisia. They were bigger than anything seen here for a number of years. What was also most striking was the boldness and anger of the protesters. Even when the police moved in with water cannon and tear gas, they stood their ground. The police, by contrast, appeared wrong-footed. They are unused to confronting crowds as big and determined as this. On its own, this is not going to threaten President Mubarak's hold on power. But it must be a huge shock to him. And the protesters might just begin to think that anything is possible. 
 
 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said her administration supported "the fundamental right of expression and assembly" and urged all parties "to exercise restraint". 
 
 She added that Washington believed the Egyptian government was "stable" and "looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people". 
 
 The events in Cairo were co-ordinated on a Facebook page - tens of thousands of supporters clicked on the page to say they would take part. 
 
 The microblogging website, Twitter, has confirmed that its website has been blocked in Egypt. 
 
 Twitter said it believed the open exchange of information and views was a benefit to societies and helped government better connect with their people. 
 
 The Swedish-based website Bambuser, which streams video from mobile phones, said it had been blocked in Egypt. On its blog, it accused Egyptian officials of trying to control the news agenda. 
 
 The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo said rallies had been held in several parts of the capital, and the turnout had been more than the organisers could have hoped. 
 
 Police were taken aback by the anger of the crowd and let protesters make their way to the parliament building, he says. 
 
 There police regrouped in full riot gear with tear gas and water cannon and temporarily drove the crowd back. However, protesters threw stones and stood their ground, pushing the police back until they were on the run. 
 
 Protests also broke out in other areas, including the eastern city of Ismailiya and the northern port city of Alexandria. 
 
 In Alexandria, witnesses said thousands joined the protests, some chanting: "Revolution, revolution, like a volcano, against Mubarak the coward." 
 
 'Nothing to fear' 
 
 In Cairo's Tahrir Square, demonstrators attacked a police water cannon vehicle, opening the driver's door and ordering the man out of the vehicle. 
 
 Officers beat back protesters with batons as they tried to break the police cordons to join the main demonstration. 
 
 Cairo resident Abd-Allah told the BBC that by Tuesday night some protesters were saying they wouldn't give up until President Mubarak had gone. 
 
 "People are behaving as if they are ready to die," he said. 
 
 "The atmosphere is very tense, it feels like a revolution. I see people who are determined, people who have nothing to lose, people who want a better future." 
 
 Reports said protesters had earlier gathered outside the Supreme Court holding large signs that read: "Tunisia is the solution." 
 
 Image caption A poster of Hosni Mubarak was defaced by protesters in Alexandria 
 
 Some chants referred to Mr Mubarak's son Gamal, who some analysts believe is being groomed as his father's successor. "Gamal, tell your father Egyptians hate you," they shouted. 
 
 The organisers rallied support saying the protest would focus on torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment, calling it "the beginning of the end". 
 
 Disillusioned 
 
 Weeks of unrest in Tunisia eventually toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this month. 
 
 Egypt has many of the same social and political problems that brought about the unrest in Tunisia - rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption. 
 
 However, the population of Egypt has a much lower level of education than Tunisia. Illiteracy is high and internet penetration is low. 
 
 There are deep frustrations in Egyptian society, our Cairo correspondent says, yet Egyptians are almost as disillusioned with the opposition as they are with the government; even the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Islamist movement, seems rudderless. 
 
 While one opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, called on Egyptians to take part in these protests, the Muslim Brotherhood has been more ambivalent. 
 
 Our correspondent adds that Egypt is widely seen to have lost power, status and prestige in the three decades of President Mubarak's rule. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Footage showed debris, shoes and clothes abandoned inside the stadium 
 
 Senior officials in the Egyptian city of Port Said and the Egyptian football association have been sacked in the wake of riots on Wednesday at a football match in which 74 people died. 
 
 The governor of Port Said resigned, while two senior security officials have been suspended and are in custody. 
 
 Security forces fired tear gas as thousands of protesters marched towards the interior ministry in Cairo. 
 
 Three days of national mourning have been declared. 
 
 Protesters in Cairo chanted slogans against the police and Egypt's military rulers. 
 
 Analysis Young, poor and unemployed - many of the Ahly football fans caught up in the violence on the terraces in Port Said also took part in the battles for Tahrir Square. What they want are jobs and the opportunity to escape their predicament. What they hate are privileged and powerful symbols of authority. Internet forums and blogs are full of conspiracy theories, blaming the generals for deliberately allowing Ahly fans to be attacked. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest political movement, also accused the military of fomenting unrest to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. That seems far-fetched. All we know for sure is that poorly paid and poorly trained riot police failed to keep apart two sets of football fans with a history of violence and mutual hatred. After the overthrow of President Mubarak, you might expect everyone to now come together, preparing for a new era. But the reality is that Egypt is still a country in turmoil. 
 
 As the marchers neared the interior ministry, which is protected by barricades, police fired tear gas. 
 
 Some protesters fell to the ground as they ran from the tear gas, the AP news agency reports. 
 
 Medics told the AFP news agency about 20 people were injured after inhaling tear gas. 
 
 'Work of the devil' 
 
 The riot began when fans invaded the pitch after a football match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly and the Port Said side al-Masry. 
 
 The head of Egypt's football association has been sacked and the board dissolved, with its members referred to prosecutors for questioning, Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri told an emergency session of parliament. 
 
 Port Said's director of security and the head of investigations were suspended and are now in custody, Mr Ghanzouri said. 
 
 After the session, protesters blockaded the lower chamber and refused to let MPs leave, a private TV channel reported. 
 
 "Protesters shut the doors of the People's Assembly [parliament's lower chamber] and refused to let MPs leave" after the session, reported Misr 25 TV, which is sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest party in parliament. 
 
 The session opened with a minute's silence. Speaker Mohamed Saad al-Katatni said the riots were the "work of the devil" and that Egypt's revolution was "in danger". 
 
 Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the questioning of 52 people arrested after the riots. The governor of Port Said and the head of security are also to be questioned. 
 
 Funerals of five of the victims took place in Port Said after noon (10:00 GMT) prayers. 
 
 All Egyptian premier-league matches have been postponed indefinitely. 
 
 The Confederation of African Football said a minute's silence would be held at the quarter-final matches of the African Cup of Nations at the weekend. 
 
 We tried to save the lives of some of the fans, but many died before our eyes Pedro Barny, Al-Ahly assistant coach Coach 'saw fans die' at riot game 
 
 World football body Fifa said it was "in mourning" and had asked Egypt for a full report on the incidents. 
 
 'Rage in their eyes' 
 
 Demonstrators, many of them al-Ahly supporters known as Ultras, used metal barriers and vehicles to close Tahrir Square, the scene of huge protests last year which led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. 
 
 Others are marching from the club's headquarters towards the interior ministry. 
 
 The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says there is a mood of extreme bitterness. Many supporters believe police were incompetent, or actively provoked the unrest. 
 
 "People are really angry, you could see the rage in their eyes," al-Ahly supporter Mohammed Abdel Hamid told the BBC. 
 
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 Our correspondent says Egyptian fans are notoriously violent, particularly the Ultras. 
 
 They have been heavily implicated in confronting the police during recent political protests, he adds, and there is speculation that the security forces may have had an interest in taking them on. 
 
 "They said to us, we have brought your funeral shrouds with us. And then we were attacked horribly," another al-Ahly fan, Mohamed Saeed Mohamed Ali told Reuters. 
 
 "We went to the tunnel and the doors were shut with chains, that was the first thing, and the lights were shut off. They were firing rubber bullets... There was a young man named Islam, 17 years old, who was standing next to me and then suddenly he was lying with a skewer in his head, and his eye was blown out of the other side of his head." 
 
 Police in Egypt have been keeping a much lower profile since last year's popular protests. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood - which has emerged as Egypt's biggest party in recent elections - blamed supporters of ousted President Hosni Mubarak for the violence. 
 
 As the match ended, people flooded onto the pitch attacking al-Ahly players and fans. Witnesses said the atmosphere had been tense throughout the match. 
 
 Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt's ruling army council, went to an airbase near Cairo to meet al-Ahly players who were flown back from Port Said on a military aircraft.
– Egypt banned all protest gatherings today, warning that any protesters in the street would face “immediate” arrests. But thousands took to the streets anyway, according to Reuters. By early this morning, police had used tear gas and rubber bullets to drive protesters out of a major Cairo square where they congregated yesterday, but there have been reports of smaller protests throughout the city, according to the New York Times. As many as 3,000 people gathered outside Cairo’s court complex, only to be driven out by police riot trucks. Hundreds more gathered outside a morgue in Suez, demanding the release of the three people killed yesterday. At the Egyptian Press Association, police beat back hundreds of protesters with batons, arresting eight local journalists, according to YNet News. Social media sites continue to buzz with calls for protest, but Twitter has confirmed that it’s blocked in the country, and Facebook appears to be partially blocked as well, according to the AP.