Anti-Mubarak protests in Egypt grow, many hurt

Cairo: Dozens of people were wounded as police and demonstrators fought running street battles in Cairo on Friday in unprecedented protests against President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.

Security forces fired rubber bullets, teargas and water cannon at the crowds and baton charged them. The protesters hurled stones back and shouted "Down, Down, Hosni Mubarak."

Witnesses saw dozens of Egyptians bruised, bloodied and fainting. Al Jazeera television said at least one person was killed in a square in central Cairo, although the report could not be confirmed.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets after Friday prayers in by far the biggest of four consecutive days of protests by people fed up with unemployment, poverty, corruption and the lack of freedom under Mubarak.

"They (the government) want to destroy the whole country to keep one man in power," one protester shouted as he ran from police.

Such popular unrest has not previously been seen during Mubarak's rule of Egypt, where security services keep a tight grip on dissent.

It was triggered by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Al Ben Ali in a popular revolt which also inspired anti-government protests in Yemen.

The events pose a quandary for the United States, which has professed its wish for democracy to spread across the Middle East. Mubarak, however, has been a close Washington ally for many years and the recipient of huge amounts of military aid.

In response to the protests, U.S. President Barack Obama said social and political reforms in Egypt were "absolutely critical."

Confrontations broke out all over central Cairo between groups of demonstrators and police on Friday, witnesses said.

Snatch squads of plain clothes security men dragged off suspected ringleaders. At the Fatah mosque in central Ramses Square, several thousand people were penned in and teargassed.

Protesters often quickly dispersed and regrouped.

Some held banners saying: "Everyone against one" and chanted "Peaceful peaceful peaceful, no violence." Others threw shoes at and stamped on posters of Mubarak. But as the clashes intensified, police waded into the crowds with batons and fired volleys of teargas.

"Leave, leave, Mubarak, Mubarak, the plane awaits you," people chanted.

One car was set ablaze and some police cars were surrounded and attacked by protesters, witnesses said.