[ALL UPDATES ARE FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON – UPDATES FROM MOTZEI SHABBOS IN STORIES ABOVE] As darkness fell Friday, thousands of angry Egyptians defied a government curfew and stinging police tear gas to march on the streets demanding change.

The government cracked down with thousands of riot and plainclothes police and the force of the army in armored personnel carriers. Undeterred, people ran screaming, hurled rocks and accosted walls of security as they tried to make their way to central Cairo.

Embattled President Hosni Mubarak imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, where the largest demonstrations took place Friday. State-run Nile TV said the curfew was in response to the “hooliganism and lawlessness” of the protesters.

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Mubarak was expected to deliver a speech Friday evening, Nile TV said.

UPDATE 3:50PM EST: The United States will review its aid to Egypt based on what is happening there now, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday.

The White House has been in touch with the Egyptian government but U.S. President Barack Obama has not spoken with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a briefing.

“We are deeply concerned about the images and events we see in Egypt today. We monitor those events closely; the security personnel need to refrain from violence, protesters should refrain from violence,” he said.

“The legitimate grievances that have festered for quite some time in Egypt have to be addressed by the Egyptian government immediately, and violence is not the response. Space has to be created for meaningful dialogue that addresses those very legitimate grievances.”

UPDATE 2:50PM EST:  The building housing the offices of the National Democratic Party, Egypt’s ruling party, was burned and ransacked by demonstrators in Cairo on Friday, Nile TV is reporting. 

UPDATE 2:20PM EST: The U.S. State Department has issued a travel alert regarding the unrest in Egypt. It cites disrupted travel between cities and the government’s interruption of internet and cell phone service. “Given this situation, the Department of State urges U.S. citizens to defer non-essential travel to Egypt at this time and advises U.S. citizens currently in Egypt to defer non-essential movement and to exercise caution,” the alert states.

CNN reports that several high-ranking Egyptian military officials were in the Pentagon on Friday for a previously scheduled visit. They’re attending the annual U.S.-Egypt Military Cooperation Committee meetings to discuss military training, security assistance and defense industrial cooperation.

UPDATE 1:56PM EST: The Egyptian government has ordered cell phone companies to shut down service in selected areas, Vodafone says, adding that it is obliged by law to comply with the order.

UPDATE 12:40PM EST: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the Egyptian government to exercise restraint in dealing with protests and to respect citizens’ human rights. She also cautioned demonstrators to refrain from violence. Clinton asked the government “to allow peaceful protests and reverse the unprecedented steps it has taken to cut off communications.” “We are deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protesters and we call on the Egyptian government to do everything within its power to restrain its security forces,” Clinton said. “At the same time, protesters should also refrain from violence and express themselves peacefully.” Clinton was speaking to reporters at the State Department after a meeting with Colombia’s vice president.

In Cairo, vans packed with riot police circled neighborhoods before the start of weekly prayers in the afternoon. Later in the day, Egyptian soldiers moved onto the streets, the first time since the army has been deployed to quell unrest since 1985.

But protesters, fed up with economic woes and a lack of freedoms, defied all warnings to demand an end to Mubarak’s authoritarian 30-year-rule.

DEVELOPING

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