The US has called on the Egyptian government to immediately lift the country's emergency laws, which have been in place for 30 years.

美国政府呼吁埃及政府立即解除已经实行30年的紧急状态法。

Vice-President Joe Biden made the call during a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart Omar Suleiman.

He also said the police should immediately stop arresting and beating journalists and activists².

Tuesday saw one of the biggest anti-government rallies in Cairo since the protests began on 25 January.

It came despite the government's announcement of its plans for a peaceful transfer of power.

President Hosni Mubarak has said he will stay in office until elections in September, when he plans to step down.

Mr Biden told Mr Suleiman that the transition（过渡，转变） to a more broadly based government should produce "immediate¹, irreversible" progress.

The US vice-president has been phoning his Egyptian opposite number on an almost daily basis and his latest call is the toughest yet, the BBC's North America editor, Mark Mardell, reports.

Mr Biden said the interior ministry⁴ should be restrained immediately and there should be a clear policy of no reprisals⁵（报复） .

Separately, President Barack Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Mr Suleiman's remarks about Egypt not being ready for democracy were "particularly unhelpful".

The focus now seems not to be on President Mubarak and his future but on what the White House calls "concrete reforms", our North America editor says.

So far the administration's repeated suggestions over the last week have been met largely by grudging⁶（勉强的） commitments from the Egyptian authorities and little action, he adds.

'Huge support'

As the protests entered their third week, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square for the latest protest. Initial attempts by the army to check the identity cards of those joining the demonstration⁷ were quickly abandoned because of the sheer（绝对的，透明的） weight of numbers.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in Cairo, says the message to the authorities is simple - there is huge support from all walks of Egyptian life for the protests, and the government's concessions⁸ are not enough.

Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who was detained by state security forces for 12 days, often blindfolded⁹, was feted by the crowds as he entered Tahrir Square. He is credited with setting up the page on the Facebook social network that helped galvanise（激励，镀锌） protesters.

"We will not abandon our demand and that is the departure of the regime," Mr Ghonim told protesters in the square, to cheers and applause.

Large crowds also demonstrated in the second city, Alexandria, and other Egyptian towns and cities.

In his response to the protest movement that has presented by far the most serious challenge to his 30-year rule, President Mubarak has set up a committee to propose constitutional changes, and another is being formed to carry the changes out.

Among the key expected changes are a relaxation¹⁰ of presidential eligibility¹¹（合格） rules, and the setting of a limit for presidential terms.

Vice-President Suleiman said a third committee, expected to begin its work in the next few days, would investigate clashes between pro³ and anti-Mubarak groups last week and refer its findings to the prosecutor-general.

He also said President Mubarak had issued directives（指令，指示） to stop repressive measures against the opposition¹².

Many protesters have said they are sceptical about any transition managed by the government.

"We don't trust them any more," Ahmed, one young Egyptian queuing to get into Tahrir Square, told the BBC. "How can Suleiman guarantee there'll be no more violence around the election after all the attacks we've seen on young people?"