'He must leave!': Anti-Sisi protests rock Egypt for second night

Anti-government protests rocked Egypt for a second night on Saturday, as Egyptian security forces fired tear gas and live rounds at hundreds of demonstrators in the seaport city of Suez.

In a rare show of dissent, hundreds of Egyptians in Suez took to the streets heeding an online call for dissent against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. 

But they were met with security forces barricading streets and deploying armoured vehicles in downtown Suez centring on Al-Arbaeen Street. 

"There were about 200 or so people. They (security forces) fired tear gas, rubber and live bullets and there were injuries", a man who took part in the demonstration but declined to be named told AFP. 

Another resident, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said the tear gas was so thick it had reached her apartment block a few kilometres away from the turbulent downtown area.

"My nose started burning up. The smell was seeping through the balcony. I also saw some youth run and hide in our street", the woman said.

A security source said there were dozens of protesters but could not provide further information about the authorities' response.

Clips of the Suez confrontations have been widely shared on a still trending hashtag but authorities have not commented yet on the unfolding melee. 

In several online videos crowds can been heard chanting the slogan "The people demand the downfall of the regime!".

Read more: Dozens of Egyptian pro-democracy protesters detained in sweeping arbitrary arrests

Others show demonstrators shout "There is no god but Allah. Sisi is the enemy of god!" and "We won't leave! He must leave!"

Suez is significant as the city where the first protestor was killed during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Activists began calling Suez Egypt's Sidi Bouzid at the beginning of the popular protests, in a nod to the Tunisian city where protests that toppled dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali began.

The outbreak of protests came on the back of an online call posted by Mohamed Ali, a disgruntled exiled Egyptian businessman in Spain, accusing Sisi of rampant corruption and demanding he be toppled.

The country effectively banned protests under a 2013 law and a state of emergency is still in full effect.

Under the rule of general-turned-president Sisi, authorities have launched a broad crackdown on dissidents, jailing thousands of Islamists as well as secular activists and popular bloggers.

But that did not deter hundreds of Egyptians from heading to Tahrir Square - the epicentre of the 2011 revolution - in the capital Cairo on Friday.

At least 74 were arrested in Cairo alone, a security source said, and AFP journalists reported that security forces fired tear gas to quell the small-scale demonstrations.

Other demonstrations in several cities, including Suez, also took place where anti-Sisi slogans were loudly chanted in a show of defiance against his administration.

Agencies contributed to this report.