Military armoured vehicles rolled onto the streets of the capital on Friday night in a bid to quell the protests, but buildings have been set alight, and violent clashes continue after a day of unprecedented anger.
A building belonging to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) was torched, and reports of looting have also emerged in numerous government buildings.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Cairo said that several police vehicles were also set ablaze, and firefighters did not appear to be on the streets.
Friday's demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people were the biggest and bloodiest in four consecutive days of protests against Hosni Mubarak's government.
Correspondent Rawya Rageh, reporting from the port city of Alexandria, said that protesters there were also defying the curfew.
In the eastern city of Suez, at least 11 people were killed and 170 wounded.
At least 1,030 people were wounded during Friday's protests some in a serious condition with bullet wounds, medical sources said.
Police officers were also wounded, but numbers were not immediately clear, the sources told Reuters news agency. There was no official confirmation of the figures.
As darkness fell, tracked armoured cars took up positions in key cities.
"The armed forces started to deploy forces in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez as a first stage in implementing the decree...imposing a curfew starting from 6pm," state media reported.
Some 2,000-3,000 people thronged around a military vehicle near Cairo's Tahrir square, a Reuters witness said. They climbed on it, shaking hands with the soldiers, and chanted: "The army and the people are united" and "The revolution has come".
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