CAIRO: Internet and cellphone data services were disrupted across Egypt as authorities used extreme measures to hamper protesters from organizing mass rallies after Friday noon prayers as part of the biggest challenge to the government in decades.
The demonstrations are backed by both the country's biggest opposition group and newly returned Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.
In response to the threat, Egypt has apparently done what many technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: cutting itself off from the web to try and silence a protest movement taking inspiration from the ouster of Tunisia's president this month.
President Hosni Mubarak, 82, has not been seen in public or heard from directly since the protests began Tuesday with tens of thousands marching in Cairo and a string of other cities. While he may still have a chance to ride out this latest challenge, his choices are limited, and all are likely to lead to a loosening of his grip on power.
The state-controlled Al-Ahram newspaper, however, sought to project a notion of normalcy, reporting on its front page that Mubarak would open the city's annual book fair on Saturday.
The government deployed an elite special operations force in Cairo on Thursday night as violence escalated outside the capital, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood called on its members to take to the streets after Friday afternoon prayers.
Uniformed security forces at least temporarily disappeared from the streets of central Cairo mid-morning Friday, but truckloads of riot police and armored cars started moving back about an hour later.
By late morning, thousands of black-clad riot police armed with batons and shields were deployed across the city, with the largest concentrations at Tahrir, or Liberation, Square at the heart of the city, where 10,000 protesters gathered for their first demonstration on Tuesday.
The demonstrations are backed by both the country's biggest opposition group and newly returned Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.
In response to the threat, Egypt has apparently done what many technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: cutting itself off from the web to try and silence a protest movement taking inspiration from the ouster of Tunisia's president this month.
President Hosni Mubarak, 82, has not been seen in public or heard from directly since the protests began Tuesday with tens of thousands marching in Cairo and a string of other cities. While he may still have a chance to ride out this latest challenge, his choices are limited, and all are likely to lead to a loosening of his grip on power.
The state-controlled Al-Ahram newspaper, however, sought to project a notion of normalcy, reporting on its front page that Mubarak would open the city's annual book fair on Saturday.
The government deployed an elite special operations force in Cairo on Thursday night as violence escalated outside the capital, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood called on its members to take to the streets after Friday afternoon prayers.
Uniformed security forces at least temporarily disappeared from the streets of central Cairo mid-morning Friday, but truckloads of riot police and armored cars started moving back about an hour later.
By late morning, thousands of black-clad riot police armed with batons and shields were deployed across the city, with the largest concentrations at Tahrir, or Liberation, Square at the heart of the city, where 10,000 protesters gathered for their first demonstration on Tuesday.
