Thank goodness they prayed first

Rico says any article entitled Egypt protesters clash with police after prayers has gotta be good, and Sarah el Deeb and Maggie Michael of the AP have the story:

Thousands of Egyptian anti-government protesters clashed Friday with police in Cairo, who fired rubber bullets into the crowds and used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them. It was a major escalation in what was already the biggest challenge to President Hosni Mubarak's thirty-year rule.
Police also used water cannons against Egypt's pro-democracy leader Mohamed el-Baradei and his supporters as they joined the latest wave of protests after noon prayers. Police also used batons to beat some of el-Baradei's supporters, who surrounded him to protect him.
A soaking-wet el-Baradei was trapped inside a mosque nearly an hour after he and his supporters were watercannoned. Hundreds of riot police laid siege to the mosque, firing tear gas in the streets surrounding it so no one could leave. The tear gas canisters set several cars ablaze outside the mosque. Several people fainted and suffered burns.
Large groups of protesters, in the thousands, were gathered at at least six venues in Cairo, a city of about 18 million people. They are demanding Mubarak's ouster. There were smaller protests in Assiut, south of Cairo, and al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula. Regional television stations were reporting clashes between thousands of demonstrators and police in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Minya south of Cairo.
At the upscale Mohandiseen district, at least 10,000 of people were marching toward the city center chanting "down, down with Mubarak". The crowd later swelled to about 20,000 as they made their way through residential areas. Residents looking on from apartment block windows waved at them and whistled in support. Others waved the red, white and black Egyptian flags.
At Ramsis Square in the heart of the city, thousands of protesters clashed with police as they left the al-Nur mosque after prayers. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets and some of the tear gas was fired inside the mosque where women were taking refuge.
Clusters of riot police with helmets and shields were stationed around the city, at the entrances to bridges across the Nile and other key intersections.