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Vehicles burn in front of Cairo's Egyptian Museum early Thursday as people protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak face off against pro-Mubarak crowds.
Read full coverage of the unrest in Egypt updated continually by CNN reporters worldwide. Send your photos and video to iReport and see CNN in Arabic here. See also this strong roundup of timely, insightful views on the wave of upheaval in the Arab world.
[Update 4:33 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 9:33 p.m. ET Wednesday] Heavy gunfire reverberated in central Cairo early Thursday as anti- and pro-government protesters continued to face off at Tahrir Square.
[Update 3:43 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:43 p.m. ET Wednesday] Chartered flights evacuating U.S. citizens from Cairo will run again on Thursday, but after that, U.S. officials will assess whether the operation should be continued, the U.S. State Department said.
More than 1,900 U.S. citizens and their family members have left Egypt since an evacuation operation began Monday, according to State Department statement. The State Department has been providing passage for any U.S. citizen wishing to leave Egypt.
[Update 3:28 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:28 p.m. ET Wednesday] In the video below, CNN's Ivan Watson reports on the Molotov cocktails that have been thrown Wednesday night and Thursday morning between supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and anti-Mubarak protesters outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum.
Watson reports of a "constant stream of wounded people being brought from these front lines between these two warring camps," and "people being treated along the sidewalks, underneath the street lamps ... by medics in lab coats."
"We've seen teams of opposition protesters who've been hard at work digging up the asphalt here in Tahrir Square to pull out stones to use as ammunition in the ongoing battles that have gone thoughout the day," Watson said early Thursday.
[Update 3:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has reiterated the government stance that the people have been heard, that they should go home and that they should stop demonstrating.
Protesters should respect the curfew and "enable people to return to their jobs and their daily lives, and to allow schools and universities to reopen," he said in a statement.
People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak still are in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Some of them have set up sheet-metal barricades outside the Egyptian Museum to hold off some pro-Mubarak crowds, who on Wednesday engaged in bloody clashes with the protesters. The pro-Mubarak people, who dwindled in number Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, still are lobbing Molotov cocktails at the protesters.
The Health Ministry has said three people died and 639 were injured in Wednesday's clashes in Cairo. CNN reporters at the square early Thursday morning say medics have been tending to the wounded in makeshift triage areas, and ambulances were arriving every few minutes. The Egyptian military is at the square and the museum but generally have stood by during the clashes, CNN reporters have said.
[Update 2:54 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:54 p.m. ET Wednesday] The video below is a roundup, from CNN's correspondents in Cairo, of what happened during Wednesday's demonstrations and clashes between anti-Mubarak protesters and people supporting the president.
[Update 2:21 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:21 p.m. ET Wednesday] At least three fires are burning outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum as people supporting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak throw Molotov cocktails toward anti-Mubarak protesters, CNN's Anderson Cooper reports.
The number in the pro-Mubarak crowd has dwindled, and anti-Mubarak protesters - having slowly advanced behind tall sheets of metal - have controlled the area in front of the museum near Tahrir Square for the past few hours. Anti-Mubarak protesters have been banging on the metal into the night. Some of them are having to dodge Molotov cocktails thrown by the other side, Cooper said.
"Every time one of the Molotov cocktails thrown by the pro-Mubarak forces hits inside a crowd of people in the anti-Mubarak group, you can hear a cheer going up from the pro-Mubarak side," Cooper said.
Sustained automatic weapons fire also could be heard early Thursday around Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of nine days of protests calling for Mubarak's ouster.
[Update 2:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] Ambulances were arriving every few minutes early Thursday at a hospital about a 10-minute drive from Tahrir Square, scene of bloody mayhem in Cairo. Many of the wounded have injuries to the head. Others have stab wounds or were burned by Molotov cocktails.
[Update 1:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 6:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] A tree outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum appears to be on fire, and Molotov cocktails still ocassionally are being thrown between groups of protesters, CNN's Hala Gorani reports.
People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier pushed back pro-Mubarak crowds from the street in front of the museum, near Tahrir Square. Though Molotov cocktails still are being thrown, the two sides don't appear to be in physical contact.
[Update 12:40 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 5:40 p.m. ET Wednesday] In the following video, CNN's Anderson Cooper reports on being attacked as he and colleagues tried to approach supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Wednesday.
[Update 12:16 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 5:16 p.m. ET Wednesday] People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appear to have pushed pro-Mubarak crowds away from Cairo's Egyptian Museum, though the two sides still are clashing, with Molotov cocktails being thrown, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Ivan Watson report. Molotov cocktails have been thrown for hours.
A few vehicles have been set on fire in front of the museum. The military is there, but is not doing much other than putting out fires in front of the museum, Watson said.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people are still in and around Tahrir Square, Watson reported. Medics are tending to some wounded people, and many protesters are wearing slings or bandages, Watson said.
[Update 11:58 p.m. Cairo, 4:58 p.m. ET] Three people died and 639 were injured in clashes Wednesday in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the Egyptian health minister told state-run Nile TV.
[Update 11:50 p.m. Cairo, 4:50 p.m. ET] The Cairo bureau chief for Al-Arabiya tells CNN that protesters beat two Al-Arabiya reporters and harassed a third in separate incidents Wednesday. In one incident in Giza, people stole an Al-Arabiya reporter's watch and beat him - he eventually was rescued and taken to a hospital, where he was in an intensive care unit, the bureau chief said. In a second incident, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, a reporter was "beaten like hell" after he identified himself as working for Al-Arabiya, the bureau chief said.
[Update 11:35 p.m. Cairo, 4:35 p.m. ET] Late Wednesday, anti-Mubarak protesters near the Egyptian Museum were appearing to be gaining more ground in their clashes with the president's supporters, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported. It remained unclear whether such confrontations were being repeated elsewhere.
A state-run Nile TV flashed a warning ordering people to adhere to a government-imposed curfew and clear out of Tahrir Square, but a crowd - though a less intense one - remained in the downtown plaza into the night.
In the following video, CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports that although the number of protesters outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum and Tahrir Square was decreasing late Wednesday, people still were tossing petrol bombs.
[Update 11:19 p.m. Cairo, 4:19 p.m. ET] Via Twitter, CNN's Nic Robertsonreported: "Alexandria protesters say they plan big event on Friday, describe as the 'day of farewell to #Mubarak #egypt #jan25"
Robertson also tweeted that an Alexandria protest organizer said: "'This is the day that we hope Egypt can be finally free of #Mubarak, his dynasty & his thugs."
[Update 11:10 p.m. Cairo, 4:10 p.m. ET] The United States doesn't know the identity of "thugs" who attacked anti-government protesters Wednesday in Egypt, but others have identified them as "supporters of the government," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.
"This was clearly an attempt at intimidating the protesters," Crowley said.
[Update 10:55 p.m. Cairo, 3:55 p.m. ET] Leaders from the United Nations, the United Kingdom and Germany have joined a chorus of condemnation of Wednesday's eruption of violence in Cairo.
[Update 10:27 p.m. Cairo, 3:27 p.m. ET] A journalist captured these images of people throwing rocks, brandishing knives and tending to injured people during protests in central Cairo, near Tahrir Square, on Wednesday:
[Update 10:07 p.m. Cairo, 3:06 p.m. ET] Some of the protesters on the streets of Cairo are now targeting journalists. A Belgian reporter on Wednesday was arrested, beaten and accused of being a spy by men in plain clothes in the central Cairo neighborhood of Choubra, and in Tahrir Square, journalists from the BBC, Al-Arabiya, ABC News and CNN - including CNN's Anderson Cooper and Hala Gorani - also were attacked.
Cooper said he was hit on the head by a protester. Gorani said she slammed against some gates and threatened after getting caught in a stampede of protesters and counter-protesters riding on camels and horses Wednesday morning.
[Update 9:45 p.m. Cairo, 2:45 p.m. ET] Egypt's health minister said 611 people were injured in clashes in Cairo's Tahrir square Wednesday, state-run television reported.
Earlier today, Ministry of Health officials told state TV that at least one member of the Egyptian security forces was and more than 400 people were wounded in clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Cairo. Most injuries were head wounds from thrown rocks, Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Sameh Fareed said.
[Update 9:30 p.m. Cairo, 2:30 p.m. ET] A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry says demonstrations by supporters of the Mubarak government are spontaneous and not orchestrated by the government. He also said the men on horseback and camels who rode into Tahrir Square earlier Wednesday were workers from the Pyramids whose business has been hurt by the unrest.
[Update 9:24 p.m. Cairo, 2:24 p.m. ET] CORRECTION:The blog entry below posted at 9:24 p.m. Cairo time incorrectly quoted a comment made by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Wednesday regarding violence between anti-government protesters and government supporters in Egypt. Gibbs said, "And it is - it is our hope that what we saw today we won't see tomorrow or Friday or into the weekend. Obviously, this is - this is going to take - this is not all going to be wrapped up in a matter of hours. It's going to take some time."
The violence witnessed Wednesday between anti-government protesters and government supporters in Egypt "won't end tomorrow, or Friday, or by the weekend," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, adding: "This is not all going to be wrapped up in a matter of hours. It's going to take some time."
[Update 9:18 p.m. Cairo, 2:18 p.m. ET] CNN's Anderson Cooper describes how demonstrators are arming themselves as he watches gasoline bombs being lobbed from a rooftop.
[Update 9:05 p.m. Cairo, 2:05 p.m. ET] The State Department reported Wednesday that one flight for U.S. citizens was confirmed to have left Egypt. The department advises citizens who are having difficulty reaching the airport to stay indoors until demonstrations subside and make their way to the airport Thursday after curfew ends.
[Update 8:54 p.m. Cairo, 1:54 p.m. ET] Via Twitter, CNN's Nic Robertson reported: "This morning, Alexandria seemed on verge of going back to normal but early calm evaporated when aggressive pro-Mubarak groups showed up. ... Seeing more vigilante checkpoints around Alexandria. Protesters keen to avoid confrontation with pro-Mubarak groups."
[Update 8:31 p.m. Cairo, 1:31 p.m. ET] The time for a political transition in Egypt "is now" because the Egyptian people "need to see change," and a "meaningful transition must include opposition voices and parties being involved in this process as we move toward free and fair elections," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.
If the Egyptian government is instigating any of the violence occurring on the streets of Cairo, "it should stop immediately," Gibbs said.
A spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry called on international leaders to butt out of the country's internal strife, telling CNN, "We know what is in the best interest of our society." Hossam Zaki said the clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Cairo reflect "the very raw and high emotions" of the Egyptian people, and "what is required now is for people to calm down."
[Update 8:17 p.m. Cairo, 1:17 p.m. ET] Peaceful protests have been taking place Wednesday in other neighborhoods of Cairo - Mohandessin, Heliopolis and Corniche - and the rural cities of El-Minya and El-Mahalla, CNN's Ben Wedeman reported. Most of the demonstrators in those places appear to be women, children, scholars and Coptic priests, he reported.
[Update 8:01 p.m. Cairo, 1:01 p.m. ET] More than 400 people have been wounded in clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Cairo, Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Sameh Fareed told state television Wednesday. Most injuries were head wounds from thrown rocks, he said.
[Update 7:47 p.m. Cairo, 12:47 p.m. ET] At least one member of the Egyptian security forces was killed Wednesday in clashes in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Abdel Rahman Shaheen, said on state television.
[Update 7:31 p.m. Cairo, 12:31 p.m. ET] CNN iReporter Hunter Moore, 26, is an American teacher in Cairo who is certified in CPR and first aid, and has been working with doctors and other volunteers to provide medical aid to injured protesters outside Tahrir Square. He says they are only treating the anti-government protesters; the pro-Mubarak protesters are getting so badly injured that they're being sent directly to the army for treatment. "All the medics and the doctors, they just don't want to see people killing one another," he said. He shot these photos Friday and earlier this week.
[Update 7 p.m. Cairo, noon ET] The army is not deliberately allowing the violence to continue, Egypt's finance minister says, it's been ordered not to hurt anyone.
[Update 6:55 p.m. Cairo, 11:55 a.m. ET] Numerous gasoline bombs were hurled on a street alongside Tahrir Square, starting small fires that were put out by military water cannon:
[Update 6:15 p.m. Cairo, 11:15 a.m. ET] A CNN journalist in Alexandria said pro-Mubarak demonstrators in Sidi Jaber Square left after a rally near the railway station, leaving only anti-Mubarak demonstrators still camping there. Journalists saw a small pro-Mubarak crowd demonstrating near Saad Zaghloul plaza with banners that said, "Yes, yes Mubarak" and "Where is the media to hear our voice?"
[Update 6:03 p.m. Cairo, 11:03 a.m. ET] CNN iReporter farahk8 sent in photos from among the Tahrir Square crowd during Tuesday's demonstrations. See them here.
[Update 5:56 p.m. Cairo, 10:56 a.m. ET] Video of the chaos in Tahrir Square from street level:
[Update 5:50 p.m. Cairo, 10:50 p.m. ET] CNN's Ivan Watson says opposition demonstrators inside Tahrir Square are surrounded by pro-Mubarak groups and fear a bloodbath after nightfall.
CNN's Ben Wedeman tweeted: "The only way out of Tahrir is thru army lines to the right of the mosque next to the Mogamaa." (The Mogamaa is a building that houses the Interior Ministry.) "People in Tahrir square begging Obama to intervene. They are terrified a bloodbath is about to occur."
[Update 5:35 p.m. Cairo, 10:35 a.m. ET] As darkness falls on Cairo, some faithful Muslims fall to their knees for evening prayers. Small fires from gasoline bombs, also known as Molotov cocktails, are quickly extinguished near the Egyptian Museum.
[Update 5:32 p.m. Cairo, 10:32 a.m. ET] CNN's Ben Wedeman, who was roughed up near Tahrir Square, tweeted: "I was not injured. Harassed? Yes. Appears the pro-government "demonstrators" have been given instructions to target press."
[Update 5:25 p.m. Cairo, 10:25 a.m. ET] CNN's Ivan Watson describes clashes taking place in front of the Egyptian Museum, home of Egypt's most precious antiquities, and how the military has been staying on the sidelines. Meanwhile, demonstrators dig up bricks from a construction site to use as weapons.
[Update 5:16 p.m. Cairo, 10:16 a.m. ET] White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNN, "We continue to watch the events very closely, and it underscores that the transition needs to begin now." Pressed on whether the administration is pulling further away from President Hosni Mubarak, Gibbs would only say that President Obama and other officials have made clear in recent days there needs to be "real change" in Egypt.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley tweeted: "We are concerned about detentions and attacks on news media in #Egypt. The civil society that Egypt wants to build includes a free press."
[Update 5:05 p.m. Cairo, 10:05 a.m. ET] Here is a video summary of the day's events in Egypt so far.
[Update 4:59 p.m. Cairo, 9:59 a.m. ET] CNN iReporter Marianamin is an American living in a suburb an hour north of Cairo. She says her friends and neighbors "don't know who they want in, but they just know they want Mubarak out. ... Their thinking is he had 30 years to make changes. Even though he's done a lot of good for business ... for a lot of average Egyptians, he's just let them down." See marianamin's photo and description of her experience.
[Update 4:50 p.m. Cairo, 9:50 p.m.] Anderson Cooper witnessed a huge crowd of Mubarak supporters surge across a no-man's land dividing them from the anti-Mubarak crowd and overturn a military vehicle on the street as a huge roar went up. A large cloud of smoke arose at the east entrance to Tahrir Square, Anderson said.
[Update 4:38 p.m. Cairo, 9:38 a.m. ET] Tear gas was fired near the entrance to Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday, according to CNN journalists who are there.
According to the latest information obtained by the United States, the Egyptian government wants to use police to quell the demonstrations in the capital, a senior U.S. official said. "That may be why you do not see the Army reacting," the official said.
The source also said that, at this point, the violence is largely limited to central Cairo and has not spread to other parts of the country. The official said the major issue for the United States is to try to achieve some measure of stability in Egypt.
[Update 4:30 p.m. Cairo, 9:30 a.m. ET] Here is some of the top video from the past hour in Egypt. Check back each hour for the latest video.
CNN's Ivan Watson describes the rapidly changing scene:
Men on horseback charge into Tahrir Square:
Protesters bloodied in clashes:
Crowd turns violent
CNN's Ben Wedeman sees "utter chaos":
[Update 4:23 p.m. Cairo, 9:23 a.m. ET] Some members of the Egyptian Army were believed to be entering Tahrir Square. Military vehicles were separating pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators, and several gasoline bombs had been tossed, CNN's Anderson Cooper said.
The sound of gunfire was heard in Tahrir Square, CNN's Fred Pleitgen said on Twitter. The square has been surrounded by pro-Mubarak demonstrators who have blocked in anti-government demonstrators and others at the site, CNN's Ben Wedeman said.
[Update 3:58 p.m. Cairo, 8:58 a.m. ET] The United States believes that the Egyptian police are returning to the streets in Cairo and will be the first responders to the violence that has erupted, rather than the Egyptian army, a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the unfolding situation in Egypt told CNN Wednesday. "We are seeing preliminary indications the police are coming back in," the official said, stressing that the situation remains highly volatile and uncertain.
[Update 3:51 p.m. Cairo, 8:51 a.m. ET] Men with rocks in their hands lined a metal wall and pounded out a rhythm. CNN's Ivan Watson said this appeared to be a show of support for rock-throwers on the front lines as pro- and anti-Mubarak sides faced off. Injured men were carried to a makeshift clinic on Tahrir Square.
CNN's Ben Wedeman said he overheard a panicked army officer say the situation was out of control and there was nothing the army could do to restore order.
[Update 3:42 p.m. Cairo, 8:42 a.m. ET] CNN's Anderson Cooper said he and his production crew were attacked by pro-Mubarak demonstrators earlier Wednesday. The attackers pushed and shoved the CNN crew and punched them in the head, he said, but no one was seriously hurt.
[Update 3:36 p.m. Cairo, 8:36 a.m. ET] A crew of men were seen on video using tools to break up pavement near Tahrir Square, while others carried loads of rocks, presumably to be thrown at the opposing demonstrators. It wasn't known which side they supported.
[Update 3:17 p.m. Cairo, 8:17 a.m. ET] As hundreds of men lined up to kneel and pray in the street, a crowd less than 100 feet away could be seen surrounding and beating a man.
[Update 2:58 p.m. Cairo, 7:58 a.m. ET] Men on horseback and camels charged into the crowd at Cairo's Tahrir Square, some of them lashing people on the ground with whips. Several were pulled off their animals and beaten, and the others retreated. CNN's Ivan Watson said the horseback riders came from the pro-Mubarak side of the demonstration.
[Update 2:49 p.m. Cairo, 7:49 a.m. ET] The stone-throwing and fighting at Tahrir Square have suddenly stopped and people are hugging and chanting "We are one," CNN's Ivan Watson reports from his vantage point.
[Update 2:46 p.m. Cairo, 7:46 a.m. ET] CNN's Amir Ahmed said he has seen people with blood flowing from their heads after being injured by rocks. The clashes appear to be spreading to streets near the square, he said.
[Update 2:32 p.m. Cairo, 7:32 ET] Demonstrators for and against President Hosni Mubarak are throwing rocks at each other on Tahrir Square, CNN's Ben Wedeman reports. Police are absent from the square and military personnel are hanging back, he says.
[Update 2:19 p.m. Cairo, 7:19 a.m. ET] Competing rallies were being held Wednesday in Alexandria, Egypt, with several thousand people protesting against President Hosni Mubarak and a few hundred others supporting him, CNN Correspondent Nic Robertson reported.
In Cairo, Mubarak supporters broke through a barricade that had separated them from anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square. The military surrounded the square but there was nothing between the two sides to keep them apart.
[Update 12:37 p.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 5:37 a.m. ET Wednesday]The U.S. State Department "ordered departure" evacuation starts Wednesday with chartered planes planned to start flying out nonemergency personnel, their relatives and any American citizens who wish to evacuate.
Internet access is back in at least parts of Egypt, CNN has confirmed
[Update 11:51 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 4:51 a.m. ET Wednesday] The Egyptian defense ministry on Wednesday urged the youth to go back home, saying "your message is received ... your demands became known."
"And we are here and awake to protect the country for you," a spokesman for the ministry said in a television broadcast. "Not by power but by the love to Egypt ... it is time to go back to normal life."
[Update 11:28 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 4:28 a.m. ET Wednesday] Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Wednesday he will not run for president nor hand over power to his son once his term ends in 2013. "No extension, no inheritance," he told parliament.
In recent weeks, thousands have taken to the streets in Yemen demanding the the kind of change that Egypt wants. Saleh has been in office for 32 years.
[Update 9:19 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 2:19 a.m. ET Wednesday] Shortly after sunrise Wednesday, Cairo's Tahrir Square was already packed with demonstrators - including families staying in tents with children.
Some demonstrators chanted in favor of Mubarak early Wednesday, calling the press "traitors" and "agents."
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government would provide an emergency flight for Australians affected by the unrest in Egypt. The flight will depart Cairo on Wednesday, according to a statement from her
office.
office.
British carrier BMI says it has organized an extra flight to help British nationals get back to the United Kingdom from Egypt.
The British Foreign Office is sending a charter flight to Cairo on Wednesday to fly back British citizens with no other way to get home, the office said.
Egypt's national airline, EgyptAir, canceled flights until 10 a.m. Wednesday (3 a.m. ET), according to state television.
Greece has sent military aircraft to evacuate 215 Greeks from Egypt, the official Athens News Agency said.
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