- Army turns water cannon on protesters in desperate bid to end violence
- Mubarak supports charge Liberation Square on horses and camels
- Rocks and concrete blocks hurled at pro-democracy demonstration
- World leaders call for calm as situation spirals out of control
Backers of the president, who last night agreed to relinquish his grip on power, fought with the crowds in Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square, injuring more than 600 people.
Some rode into the ranks on horses and camels while wielding whips. In chaotic scenes, they pelted each other with stones, large sticks and machetes.
The death toll since protests began eight days ago is now thought to be as high as 300, according to Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Reports to the world body from nongovernmental sources in Egypt also suggest that more than 3,000 people have been injured.
Cairo in flames: The army finally used water cannon to clear protesters tonight as military vehicles burned in the streets
Many of those who demonstrated in support of the regime today are believed to be secret police in plain clothes. There were reports that concrete blocks has been hurled on pro-democracy protesters.
The army has stood by and refused to intervene so far. But there are growing fears that there will be a massacre. Opposition leader Mohamed ElBarawi said that Mr Mubarak was using 'scare tactics' to stay in power.
'I'm extremely concerned. My fear is that it will turn into a bloodbath,' he said.
The White House said the U.S. was 'deeply concerned' about the attacks on media and peaceful demonstrators.
© APMissiles: Stones fly through the air as supporters of President Hosni Mubarak attack previously peaceful protesters in Liberation Square
Bloodshed: Protesters comfort each other (left and right) after being injured during the protest while a veil-clad woman gathers rocks in her hands ready hurl
Anarchy: The opposing sides square off amid army tanks as the protests became increasingly volatile
But for the first time thousands of Mr Mubarak's supporters descended on the massive public space, the scene of a yesterday's 250,000 strong demonstration.
Around 3,000 supporters of the 82-year-old leader were seen breaking through a human chain of anti-government protesters as they tried to defend the thousands gathered in the Square.
Chaos erupted as they tore down banners denouncing the president and fistfights broke out as they advanced across the plaza.
The two sides started hurling stones, bottles and sticks at each other and gave chase. At one point, some pro-Mubarak forces rushed in on horses and camels swinging whips and sticks.
Extraordinary scenes: Supporters of President Mubarak charged the ranks of demonstrators with camels and horses
Masses: Hundreds of thousands of people once more massed in Cairo's central square but this time protests turned ugly
© APCharge: Like the scene of a mediaeval battle, pro- and anti-government protesters face each other and clash
People were seen running with their shirts and faces bloodied while some men and women in the crowd wept.
Tear gas was believed to have been deployed, though it was not clear who had fired it.
The demonstrations appeared to be the start of an attempt by Mr Mubarak's three-million strong National Democratic Party to retake momentum from protesters demanding Egypt's nearly 30-year ruler step down immediately.
In a broadcast last night, he had promised to step down at elections in December. But his opponents say that this is simply not soon enough.
© EPAInjured: An Egyptian woman is treated at a makeshift medical facility in the vicinity of the square
© ReutersTear gas: Anti-government protesters fumble their way through the murk as the army makes a desperate attempt to break up the protests
Yesterday in Cairo, effigies of Mr Mubarak were hung from lamp-posts, as people screamed for him to quit, likening him to Hitler and a donkey.
Khaled Osman, 40, a tourist guide from Aswan, said: 'I am so happy that the old man has finally given up. But he must go now. And we will stay here campaigning until he goes.
'The game is over, he knows that.'
Tourist guide Mohammed Al Gawad, 33, from Hurghada, said: 'We have had enough of his brutality. We want to be free.
'We want to decide our own destiny. And we want jobs. These are the things that Mubarak has not given us. He just stole our money.'
Formidable: Thousands of Mubarak's supporters marched through the streets (left) while their opponents resorted to hacking bricks apart with sticks to make more projectiles
© ReutersArrests: Pro-Mubarak protesters captured by anti-government supporters are handed over to the army
Mob: Marchers from rival sides face off as they come round the corner of a public building. They are only separated by a no man's land in the middle
Some tourists even reported being forced to pay bribes to policemen before being permitted to board what planes did manage to take off.
An estimated 18,000 were still stuck there yesterday, although many British citizens and other holidaymakers in Sharm el Sheikh and the Red Sea resorts are staying put.
Even having a ticket was no guarantee that tourists could get on a flight, it has emerged.
'People holding tickets had difficulties getting on the plane, because the airport in Cairo is pure chaos,' Canadian tourist Tristin Hutton said Tuesday after his plane landed at Germany's Frankfurt airport.
© EPAChaos: Fumes from a tank can be seen pluming up from the square
Aggression: Mubarak's supporters, many believed to be plain clothed police, threw rocks and concrete blocks from the rooftops
A pro-Mubarak protester clamber up on a tank in Liberation Square (left) as demonstrators from rival camps tussle in the street
Internet service also began returning to Egypt after days of an unprecedented cutoff by the government, and state TV said authorities were easing a nighttime curfew, which now runs from 5pm to 7am instead of 3pm to 8am.
The various protesters have little in common beyond the demand that Mubarak go.
Perhaps the most significant tensions among them is between young secular activists and the Muslim Brotherhood, which wants to form an Islamist state in the Arab world's largest nation.
The more secular are deeply suspicious as the Brotherhood aims to co-opt what they contend is a spontaneous, popular movement. American officials have suggested they have similar fears.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood remains Egypt's largest opposition movement.
In a nod to the suspicions, Brotherhood figures insist they are not seeking a leadership role. 'We don't want to harm this revolution,' Mohamed Mahdi Akef, a former leader of the group.
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