As the political crisis in Egypt intensifies the United States has stated its support for Egyptian people.
In a press statement emanating from the White House, the Obama administration stated that it supports the universal rights of the Egyptian people, including the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
According to the administration, "the Egyptian government has an important opportunity to be responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people, and pursue political, economic and social reforms that can improve their lives and help Egypt prosper," adding that it is committed to working with Egypt and the Egyptian people to advance these goals.
The statement added that " more broadly, what is happening in the region reminds us that, as the President said in Cairo, we have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and free of corruption; and the freedom to live as you choose – these are human rights and we support them everywhere."
Tuesday's protests appeared to be the biggest in decades in Egypt, a country where opposition has long been kept in check and demonstrations rarely draw more than a few hundred people. According to some initial accounts, as many as 50,000 demonstrators in all turned out in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other Egyptian cities. At least two protesters and one security official were killed.
Arab leading news media Al Jazeera reports that fresh protests over living conditions and an autocratic government broke out in Cairo a day after large and deadly demonstrations, calling for the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak, swept across the country.
More than 500 protesters were arrested by security forces as the government vowed to crackdown on them.
On Wednesday evening, thousands of demonstrators were spread throughout downtown Cairo after being dispersed by security forces. Many had gathered on Gelaa Street, near central Tahrir Square - the site of a violent early morning confrontation between security forces and protesters who had been planning to sleep the night in defiance of the government.
Police fired tear gas and broke up concrete to use as rocks to throw at protesters and "egg them on," Al Jazeera's Adam Makary reported.
Protesters lit a fire - possibly on a tyre - in the middle of a nearby street and were pelting police officers with stones, said Al Jazeera correspondent Rawya Rageh.
Possible concession
Meanwhile, prime minister Ahmed Nazif made what may have been the government's first concession to protesters. In a statement to a state news agency, he pledged that the country's leadership was committed to allowing freedom of expression "by legitimate means."
But his statement came as the interior ministry said that 500 protesters had been arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday in an effort to clamp down on the public unrest. The ministry had said earlier on Wednesday that new demonstrations would not be allowed.
Thousands of armoured police had been deployed at key locations around the capital in anticipation of renewed demonstrations on Wednesday, which some have called the most significant in Egypt since massive riots over the price of bread in the 1970s.
Three protesters died in the port city of Suez, east of Cairo, during Tuesday's unrest, and a policeman was also killed when he was hit in the head with a rock in Cairo, an interior ministry official said.
Rageh, reporting from the Egyptian capital on Wednesday, said that the interior ministry had issued a statement banning further protests and threatening anyone encouraging them with investigation.
Dozens of protesters who took part in Tuesday's demonstrations were rounded up and taken in for questioning, Rageh reported, with some potentially facing prosecution.
Safe haven
Al Jazeera's Makary said that over 200 people had gathered to protest before the Lawyers Syndicate, generally perceived as a "safe haven" for demonstrations, since the security forces do not usually interrupt gatherings there.
The interior ministry said that police were forced to respond on Tuesday to protesters who threw rocks and vandalised property, including setting a police car on fire.
The ministry claimed that 18 officers and 85 other members of the force had been injured during the clashes. Security officials also said that 250 protesters had been wounded and another 200 arrested.
Though activists said the number of protesters across the country may have reached into the hundreds of thousands, the ministry said the largest gathering in central Cairo consisted of around 10,000 people and shrunk to around 5,000 by night.
Brotherhood blamed
The government officially blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's technically banned but largest opposition movement, for fomenting the protests.
But the group said that it would not officially participate in the January 25 protests and denied the accusation.
With just eight months to go before a presidential election that could see the ailing Mubarak run for re-election or attempt to hand power to a successor, protesters in Egypt demanded a solution to the country's grinding poverty and called for "the tyrant" to leave.
"Down with Hosni Mubarak, down with the tyrant," chanted the crowds. "We don't want you!"
The Tunisia link
Protesters explicitly linked their demonstrations to Tunisia's popular uprising, which brought down the 23-year government of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Al Jazeera's Rageh said state-run newspapers downplayed the events in their Wednesday editions, but that opposition and independent papers ran comparatively unbiased headlines.
The independent Al-Masry Al-Youm (Egypt Today) newspaper ran a blunt headline: "A Warning."
The interior ministry, which controls the security forces, said authorities wanted to let the protesters express their opinions and accused the crowds of "insisting on provocation."
"Some threw rocks at police ... and others carried out acts of rioting and damage to state institutions," the ministry said in a statement.
"Egyptians have the right to express themselves," Hosam Zaki, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said.
The US, a close ally of Egypt that has for years given the country the second-largest amount of foreign aid, called for calm.
"The United States supports the fundamental right of expression and assembly for all people," PJ Crowley, the state department spokesman, said in a statement.
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