Cairo, Alexandria and Suez have been placed under curfew as the Egyptian government battles to restore control after the biggest protests so far.

Across the country tens of thousands of protesters turned out after Friday prayers and clashed with police.

President Hosni Mubarak, facing the biggest challenge to his authority of his 31 years in power, has ordered the army onto the streets of Cairo.

Mr Mubarak is expected to make a statement shortly.

The curfew is now in effect, but live television pictures from Cairo continue to show large crowds on the streets.

Flames have been seen from the area around the headquarters of the governing National Democratic Party (NDP) in Cairo.

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Analysis

Jeremy BowenBBC Middle East editor

This is a serious challenge to the regime of Hosni Mubarak. His security forces are strong, funded by billions of dollars of aid from the United States.

But the fact that tens of thousands of protesters have been prepared to defy a ban on demonstrations and take to the streets is what matters. It means that the Egyptian people are losing their fear of the police state, some of them at least, inspired by events in Tunisia where street protests brought down an unpopular, authoritarian president.

Egyptians share the frustrations of Tunisians who were sick of corruption and repression and their inability to affect the government's actions. But the regime here in Egypt is much stronger.

Unlike the old system in Tunisia, it's founded on the strength of the military, which seized power in a coup in 1952. Since then, Egypt has had three leaders, Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak; all came from the armed forces.

The news that curfews are being imposed in major cities indicates that the president is taking the advice of his security chiefs, that they can handle the trouble on the streets.

The question now is whether President Mubarak will follow that with political concessions. He hasn't in 30 years; he tends to buy off protests with cuts in food prices and by increasing subsidies. That might not be enough this time.

Army vehicles have also been seen on the streets of Cairo.

In one location, an army vehicle appeared to go into reverse when it was surrounded by protesters who raised their fists in celebration.

The curfew applies to Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, effective from 1800 to 0700 local time (1600 to 0500 GMT). State television said President Hosni Mubarak had decreed the curfew to stop riots, lawlessness and attacks on property.

Internet and phone services - both mobile and landline - have been severely disrupted, although protesters are using proxies to work around the restrictions.

Reports say Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei has been placed under house arrest. Earlier, he was soaked by water cannon and surrounded by police as he joined protesters on the streets of Cairo.

At least eight people have been killed and dozens injured since the protests against unemployment, corruption and rising prices began on Tuesday. Up to 1,000 people have been arrested.

The US, which counts Egypt as an important ally in the Middle East, says the situation is of "deep concern".

"The Egyptian government should view its people as a partner and not as a threat,"tweeted state department spokesman PJ Crowley.

And UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said authorities in Egypt should not seek to "suppress people's right to freedom of expression".

The unrest follows an uprising in Tunisia two weeks ago, in which President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled after 23 years in power.

After Friday prayers, tens of thousands of people joined protests in Cairo and other cities to demand the end of Mr Mubarak's 30-year rule.

They shouted "down, down with Mubarak" and "the people want the regime to fall".

At several locations, riot police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas, and by using water cannon. BBC Arabic reporter Assad Sawey, in Cairo, said he was arrested and beaten by plainclothes policemen.

"They took my camera away and when they arrested me, they started beating me with steel bars, the ones used here for slaughtering animals," he said.

There were also reports of clashes between protesters and police in Alexandria, Mansoura and Aswan, as well as Minya and Assiut south of Cairo, and al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula.

A lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Islamist opposition movement, told the BBC that dozens of its members had been arrested.

The protests took place despite widespread disruptions to internet and mobile-phone connections from early on Friday.

Mobile operator Vodafone Egypt said in a statement: "All mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas. Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it."

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Continue reading the main storyYemen's protests are said to be inspired by the popular revolt in Tunisia

by Nasra Ismail, BBC News Middle-East Desk, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla 

Thousands of Yemenis are demonstrating in the capital Sanaa, calling on Ali Abdullah Saleh, president for more than 30 years, to step down.

This comes after mass protests in Egypt and a popular uprising in Tunisia that ousted its long-time leader.

Yemeni opposition members and youth activists gathered in four parts of the city, including Sanaa University, chanting anti-government slogans.

They also called for economic reforms and an end to corruption.

Yemenis complain of mounting poverty among a growing young population and frustration with a lack of political freedoms.

The country has also been plagued by a range of security issues, including a separatist movement in the south and an uprising of Shia Houthi rebels in the north.

There are fears that Yemen is becoming a leading al-Qaeda haven, with the high numbers of unemployed youths seen as potential recruits for Islamist militant groups.

Protesters gathered in several locations of the city on Thursday morning, chanting that it was "time for change", and referring to the popular uprising in Tunisia that ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this month.

Opposition MP Abdulmalik al-Qasuss, from the al-Islah (Reform) party, echoed the demands of the protesters when he addressed them.

"We gather today to demand the departure of President Saleh and his corrupt government," he was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

There have been a series of smaller protests in the lead up to Thursday's mass demonstrations.

On Saturday, hundreds of Sanaa University students held competing protests on campus, with some calling for President Saleh to step down and others for him to remain in office.

Over the weekend, Yemeni authorities arrested prominent rights activist, Tawakul Karman, accusing her of organising the anti-government protests. Her arrest sparked further protests in Sanaa.

After her release from prison on Monday, she told CNN that there was a revolution taking place in her country inspired by Tunisia's so-called Jasmine Revolution.

Protests in Tunisia have ended 23 years of President Ben Ali's rule and ignited unrest elsewhere in the region, including Algeria and Egypt.

President Saleh, a Western ally, became leader of North Yemen in 1978, and has ruled the Republic of Yemen since the north and south merged in 1990. He was last re-elected in 2006.

Yemenis are angry over parliament's attempts to loosen the rules on presidential term limits, sparking opposition concerns that Mr Saleh might try to appoint himself president for life.

Mr Saleh is also accused of wanting to hand power to his eldest son, Ahmed, who heads the elite presidential guard, but he has denied the accusations.

"We are a republic. We reject bequeathing [the presidency]", he said in a televised address on Sunday.

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6 APRIL YOUTH MOVEMENT

April 6 members make extensive use of Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to organise pro-democracy events.

This youth opposition coalition was the main organising force behind Tuesday's demonstrations. In its online call for the "day of anger" on Tuesday 25 January, the group cited a list of demands. They included the departure of the interior minister, an end to the restrictive emergency law, and a rise in the minimum wage. The movement is urging Egyptians to "take to the streets and keep going until the demands of the Egyptian people have been met".

The movement began as an Egyptian Facebook group in 2008 to support workers in the northern industrial town of Mahalla al-Kubra and called for a national strike on 6 April that year.

Members, who include many young well-educated Egyptians, have shown a greater willingness than others to risk arrest and start public protests. They have successfully organised pro-democracy rallies and a large welcoming party for the former United Nations' nuclear watchdog chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, when he returned to his home country in February 2010.

The group uses Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to alert its networks about police activity, organise legal protection and publicise its efforts.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR CHANGE (NAC)

Mr ElBaradei backed the protest but has tended to avoid directly confronting Egypt's government.

This umbrella organisation for opposition groups was set up by Mohamed ElBaradei when he returned to Egypt after many years abroad, declaring his wish to be a "tool for reform".

Mr ElBaradei did not participate in the latest protests but he did back them in a post on his Twitter feed: "Fully support call 4 peaceful demonstrations vs. repression & corruption. When our demands for change fall on deaf ears what options remain?" Several members of his group were summoned by security services in the run-up to demonstrations.

Also on Tuesday, the NAC issued a statement calling on President Hosni Mubarak not to seek a sixth term in September's presidential election and opposing any succession of power by his son, Gamal. It also demanded dissolving the newly elected parliament where the ruling NDP controls more than 90% of seats.

In the NAC, leaders of liberal political parties like al-Ghad and the Democratic Front are represented alongside Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood. The loose coalition also includes prominent intellectuals and veteran activists, among them members of Kefaya, the Egyptian Movement for Democratic Change, which organised unprecedented rallies ahead of elections in 2004.

The NAC says President Mubarak, 82, should not run in the next elections.

The NAC has demanded an end to the state of emergency and democratic and constitutional reforms. Efforts to collect a million signatures in support of its programme were significantly boosted by the active involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood.

However divisions grew when the Islamist group would not join its boycott of last year's parliamentary elections. The groups were already at odds over strategy, with many activists advocating more direct confrontation of the regime than Mr ElBaradei was prepared to countenance.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

Egyptian officials blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for causing riots but it has not played a big role in protests so far.

Despite an official ban, the Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's largest and most organised opposition movement. The interior ministry blamed the organisation for rioting that took place on Tuesday, saying that a number of protesters "particularly a large number of those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood… began to riot, damage public property and throw stones at police forces".

However, their numbers in the protests is unclear. The conservative leadership decided not to fully endorse the demonstrations to the anger of some younger supporters. A senior spokesman, Essam el-Erian, said he did expect large numbers of the organisation's members to participate of their own accord, and called on them to stick to peaceful methods. Leaflets outlining its political demands were distributed at the rally.

Until last year, Muslim Brotherhood members (running as independent candidates) held one-fifth of seats in the last parliament. But it lost its representatives in the 2010 parliamentary election. After a first round of voting was marred by serious fraud and violence, it decided to boycott the second round.

In the past, the group has proven able to draw large crowds out onto the streets but has mostly avoided directly challenging the government. It has organised large protests against Israel's war in Gaza and the US-led war in Iraq, for example.

WAFD PARTY

This well-established party does not enjoy popular support, but previously led the official opposition in parliament. It then boycotted the second round of the last elections because of widespread vote rigging. Along with its president, al-Sayed al-Badawi, it has often been accused of being too close to the government and giving it the cover of an official secular opposition.

Like the Muslim Brotherhood, Mr al-Badawi did not join Tuesday's protests, but gave his approval for the youth of his party to participate in their personal capacity. He then announced his own demands on Arab satellite television for the dissolution of parliament, a new national unity government and new elections under a proportional representation system.

AL GHAD PARTY

Ayman Nour joined the popular protest but no longer has wide political support.

The founder of the liberal al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party, Ayman Nour, spent over three years in prison on what were widely seen as trumped-up forgery charges after finishing a distant second to President Mubarak in the last presidential election. While he was behind bars, his party was taken over by government supporters. Its headquarters were then set on fire in a dispute between rival factions.

Since his release in February 2009, Mr Nour has been a regular presence at anti-government demonstrations. His group set up a movement to oppose presidential succession before joining the National Association for Change. Mr Nour is still thought to harbour presidential ambitions but no longer has the high profile he did in 2004. He joined in Tuesday's protest.