Saturday, February 12, 2011

By Sara Hussein
Agence France Presse

CAIRO: Flag-waving Egyptians danced, sang and cheered as they bid farewell to Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year regime Friday, but triumph was tempered with apprehension as they looked ahead to military rule.
Tahrir Square thundered with chants of “The people have overthrown the regime” as tens of thousands of protesters waved flags and honked their car horns.

Many protesters said they would leave the sprawling central square they have occupied since Jan. 28 after Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had handed over power to the military.

“Now the Egyptians have their freedom,” said Mohammad Gamal, a 21-year-old Cairo University student, one of a new generation of web-savvy young people who were behind the revolt in the Arab world’s largest country. “We broke down the wall of fear. We changed our people.”

Protesters who have been camping out for 18 days in the square said they will go home after the celebrations .
“We can finally go home!” cried Mohammad Ibrahim, 38, a protest organizer. “We have been here for 18 days waiting for him to leave, and we did it.”

Many expressed shock at the speed of Mubarak’s departure, just 18 days after the start of massive protests.
“Who would have thought we could finish the job in such a short time?” shouted Ahmed Zahran, a protest organizer and cyber activist, as he joined the raucous party in Tahrir. “We had been so depressed and so unsure. This is the happiest moment of my life … This is the happiest day for everyone in Tahrir Square and in Egypt.”

Outside the main presidential palace in the Heliopolis neighborhood protesters shouted “God is greatest!” as they hugged one another, danced and ululated. Some fell to the ground, overcome with emotion.
Elsewhere in Cairo, gunshots, fireworks and the rhythmic car horns usually reserved for weddings were heard as Egyptians celebrated.

But, after the initial wave of elation hit, some protesters expressed mixed emotions as they wondered whether the revolt would achieve its larger goal of replacing the regime with a democracy.
“I don’t think it’s my last night in Tahrir. Until now we’ve had no news on what’s happening outside Cairo,” worried 22-year-old Hani el-Qadi, a credit officer. “We need to know everything. I’m still cautious.”

Also in Tahrir, 50-year-old shop-owner Adel Anwar said he was waiting for “communique three,” the next executive decision of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the group of generals that now rules the country.
“I want to know if the army will transfer power to a transitional civilian government,” he said. “If we hear that, then that will be the end of the protests and we will go.”

Others continued to insist that Mubarak leave the country and members of his regime be held accountable for corruption and other alleged crimes.
“We want the entire NDP [Mubarak’s National Democratic Party] to be dissolved and to get out because they have destroyed the country,” said Magdi Sabri, a middle-aged man protesting outside state television.