CAIRO: Three people were killed as thousands of Egyptians took to the streets Tuesday calling for an end to poverty, police and witnesses said. Police fired teargas and used water cannon, and protesters hurled bottles and rocks at them. Two protesters in the city of Suez, east of Cairo, died as a result of rubber bullets, security and medical sources said. State television said one security officer died in central Cairo because of a blow to the head from a stone that was thrown. Some protesters were beaten hard by police with sticks. Others, in a rare show of nerve against a huge national security operation, chased police down side streets. Reuters TV footage showed one policeman joining the demonstrators. In Alexandria protesters flipped over a police vehicle. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been key tools for activists in galvanising protesters. Harvard University's Herdict web monitoring service reported that Egyptians said the Twitter website was blocked on all Internet Service Providers.
