Cairo/Amman: Thousands of Egyptians protested in cities across the country after Muslim prayers, denouncing cartoons of the Prophet.

Clashes erupted with police who tried to disperse the marchers with water cannons and tear gas.

Several thousand heeded the call of the Muslim Brotherhood movement to protest outside the Al Taha mosque in the northern Delta city of Mahalla Al Kubra.

When they didn't immediate obey police demands to leave, security forces fired tear gas and water cannons, Mamdouh Al Mounir, a member of the group said. Some protest-ors threw stones at police and attacked cars, and several were injured and arrested, he said.

About 1,000 people protested, some chanting, "Osama bin Laden, explode Copenhagen," outside Cairo's Al Azhar Mosque, the oldest and most important seat of Sunni Muslim learning.

Under very tight security, about 2,000 Muslim worshippers marched in Amman to protest against the cartoons. The 90-minute march was organised by the Islamic Action Front, the largest opposition group and the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

During Friday prayers in King Abdullah's mosque, where the march began, the imam Abdul Rahman Ebdah urged the faithful in his sermon not to resort to violence.