January 2011: Activists in Egypt call for an uprising in their own country, to protest against poverty, unemployment, government corruption and the rule of president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for three decades.
January 25: On a national holiday to commemorate the police forces, Egyptians take to the streets in large numbers, calling it a "day of rage".
Thousands march in downtown Cairo, heading towards the offices of the ruling National Democratic Party, as well as the foreign ministry and the state television. Similar protests are reported in other towns across the country.
After a few hours of relative calm, police and demonstrators clash; police fired tear gas and use water cannons against demonstrators crying out "Down with Mubarak'' in Cairo's main Tahrir Square.
Protests break out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the Nile Delta cities of Mansura and Tanta and in the southern cities of Aswan and Assiut, witnesses say.
Hours after the countrywide protests began, the interior ministry issues a statement blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's technically banned but largest opposition party, for fomenting the unrest - a claim that the Muslim Brotherhood denies.
Egypt protest organisers heavily relied on social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.
Egypt's interior minister says three protesters and a police officer have been killed during the anti-government demonstrations.
