VIOLENCE CONTINUES ON the streets of Cairo today, as Egyptians call for an end to repression and governmental corruption – and demand more jobs.

Police tried to break up crowds shouting slogans against President Hosni Mubarak by blasting water cannons and firing tear gas, the BBC reports.  Yesterday, two protesters and one policeman died in the violent clashes.

A pro-democracy youth group April 6 Movement has urged Egyptians to take to the streets again, writing of their Facebook page: “Everyone needs to head down to Tahrir Square to take over the square once again”.

AFP reports that demonstrators chanted: “Mubarak get lost – Bread, liberty, dignity! We will follow Tunisia!”

The Arab world has been electrified by waves of protests over the past number of weeks – sparked off by an single desperate act by a Tunisian street vendor last December: the self-immolation of the 26-year-old vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi, in protest at the confiscation of his wares, triggered a wave of street riots across the country. The demonstrations did not abate until the country’s strongman Ben Ali, who had been in power for 23 years, was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia.

Bouazizi’s death proved to be a catalyst for the outpouring of public fury across the Middle East – prompting copycat suicide attempts and public demonstrations over repression, corruption and poverty across many countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.