Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets in cities from Cairo to Alexandria to protest the near-30 year rule of President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday, following closely in the wake of regime change in fellow North African country Tunisia.

The mass protests were occasionally violent, and at least three protesters have so far been killed.  Many more are reported injured.

The popular protests were organized under the auspices of a “National Day of Wrath.”

By Wednesday morning, police had begun to make progress in clearing the main square in Cairo – where many people had gathered -- of protesters, using tear gas, rubber bullets, and concussion grenades.

Protesters tore down pictures of President Mubarak to wild cheers:

And gathered in huge numbers on the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and beyond:

Reporter Gordon Reynolds for The Awl described the scene on Tuesday:

Egyptian police blocked both sides of Tahrir Square, pressing the protesters. This began a dangerous tug of war between Egyptians and authorities. Demonstrators began to push into the wall of police shields. In response, police beat them back into position with batons. During these exchanges I saw one police officer pulled into the crowd, tossed onto the ground and beaten before other officers extracted and carried him behind police lines. At one point some protesters picked up rocks and threw them at the police, but they were chastised by others who yelled to them, “stop, stop we must keep it peaceful.”
As the tension escalated the crowd grew loud and impassioned. The chants continued as they yelled, “my country, my country.”
On the south end of the square, a military tank rolled into the crowd. At the top of the tank an officer manned a fire hose that hammered down onto the protesters. But no one moved.
The fire tank had not advanced more than 30 yards before a young Egyptian sprinted up the front of the vehicle and scaled up the side. He proceeded to climb up to the top of the tank, inciting ovations from the crowd. When he reached the top of the tank, the officer manning the hose dropped the nozzle and jumped on the back of the protester. The two men toppled off the vehicle and onto the ground, where the man was taken away by other officers.
The moment they fell to the ground, the front 200 protesters dropped to their knees in unison and began to pray while the rest of the crowd looked into the faces of Egyptians staring at the scene from high above in their apartment windows. “Who will be the next hero?” they chanted as they looked up. Then they burst into a new chant: "Come join us, come join us!"

 
Reynolds asked a protester why so many people were in the streets protesting, to which the man responded:  “They don’t like the government. No food. No drink for people. Many people poor. This is just beginning.”

Protests continued into the night:

The importance of social media can be seen in the above videos, as many participants are filming the events on their cell phones and sharing content via Facebook and Twitter (which was blocked in Egypt late Tuesday).

Many analysts have been comparing the rapid escalation of events in Tunisia that eventually culminated in the flight of the President and regime change with what has just sparked in Egypt, but it is too soon to tell how effective these Egyptian protests will be.  What is clear, however, is that such mass action has not been seen in Egypt in years.

Reach Executive Producer Mary Slosson here.  Follow her on Twitter @maryslosson.