An estimated 100,000 protesters are gathering in Egypt's capital for what is being called the "Day of Departure" as pressure mounts on the president to resign. Demonstrators are on the streets of Cairo and other cities to call on embattled leader Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately.
The president of 30 years has said he will remain in control until September, when he will not stand for re-election.
Largely good-humoured demonstrators are streaming into Cairo's Tahrir (Freedom) Square, the scene of earlier clashes between pro and anti-Mubarak supporters.
There are fears there could be a repeat of the violence of recent days, which saw men throwing petrol bombs and rocks, and dishing out brutal beatings on the streets.
There is an increased military presence and the country's defence minister Hussein Tantawi and other top army officials are reported to have visited the square.
Thousands of protesters are also gathering in Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city.
The US State Department is warning of a spike in violence today.
"We are bracing for a significant increase in the number of demonstrators on the streets and with that, given yesterday's events, the real prospects of a confrontation," said State Department spokesman PJ Crowley.
The New York Times reports that US officials are discussing plans for Mr Mubarak to step down immediately and hand power to a transitional government led by vice president Omar Suleiman and the army.
Mr Mubarak, 82, said yesterday he would have stepped down this week but feared chaos and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood taking power.
In an interview with America's ABC News, he denied accusations that it was his hired thugs who had been stirring up the violence this week.
Mr Mubarak said he told Mr Obama: "You don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now."
Peaceful demonstrations turned ugly this week with running battles between the rival camps.
Eight people have been killed and about 900 injured so far, according to official figures.
Sky News witnessed severe beatings being dished out to suspected plain-clothes policemen - who have been blamed for inciting violence - and pro-democracy protesters.
Several foreign journalists have also been badly beaten by pro-Mubarak supporters.
Angry men carjacked an ABC News crew and threatened to behead the journalists, but the crew managed to talk its way free, the US network said.
Broadcaster Al Jazeera says its Cairo office has today been stormed by unknown men and the office has been "trashed".
The United Nations is evacuating hundreds of staff from Egypt, and US citizens desperate to leave have been told to assemble at Cairo airport by consular staff.
The crisis in Egypt is expected to dominate today's European Council summit in Brussels, where all 27 EU states are likely to put their names to a further statement calling for urgent reform.
Speaking as he arrived at the summit earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron called on Mr Mubarak to take firm steps towards "credible transition".
He said: "If we see on the streets of Cairo today state-sponsored violence, or the hiring of thugs to beat up protesters, then Egypt and its regime would lose any remaining credibility and support it has in the eyes of the watching world, including Britain."
Britain's Foreign Office has announced that a second charter plane will depart from Egypt on February 5 with Britons wishing to leave the country. The first flight arrived in the UK last night.
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