A man has set himself on fire outside the parliament building in the Egyptian capital, Cairo today.
He shouted anti-government slogans before pouring fuel on his clothes and setting himself alight, witnesses said.
Policemen nearby managed to put out the flames, and the man is now in a stable condition in hospital, officials said.
The action echoes that of a 26-year-old Tunisian whose self-immolation sparked a wave of protest in the country that brought down the government.
Also today, a Mauritanian man said to be unhappy with the government there was taken to hospital after setting himself on fire.
The man in Cairo has been identified as Abdu Abdel-Monaim Kamal, a 50-year-old restaurant owner and father of four from the city of Ismailia, east of the capital.
The website of Egypt’s leading Al-Ahram daily said he had repeatedly held heated arguments with local officials over the price of bread.
A health ministry spokesman said Mr Abdel-Monaim would probably be released within 48 hours, after being treated for superficial burns, mostly to his chest, neck, hands and legs.
The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says that security is tight at the hospital, in order to prevent any outbreak of protests.
Following the Tunisian unrest, the incident will be ringing alarm bells in the Egyptian government, our correspondent adds.
Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid in mid-December, after police prevented him from selling vegetables without a permit. He died in early January. (*BBC)
