EGYPT: The morning after celebrations at Pesident Mubarak's resignation, Egyptians now look to the future with optimism

Record ID: 783509

  • Title: EGYPT: The morning after celebrations at Pesident Mubarak's resignation, Egyptians now look to the future with optimism
  • Date: 13th February 2011
  • Summary: CLOSE OF NEWSPAPER
  • Embargoed: 28th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt, Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF3DNG47XMKD0J0J88OB6V5BZS
  • Story Text: Egyptians woke to a new dawn on Saturday (February 12) after 30 years of autocratic rule under Hosni Mubarak, full of hope after achieving almost unthinkable change, with the army in charge and an uncertain future ahead.
    Millions across the Arab world's most populous nation joyfully celebrated the fall of the president staying up into the early hours of the new day, rejoicing at the achievement which only two weeks ago seemed impossible.
    Saeed, a retired employee, reading a newspaper on the corniche overlooking the River Nile in Cairo, said he had high hopes for the future of the country.
    ''God is the one who opens the paths. I don't know, this new change, will for sure have some benefit for the people. I think there are people who really care what happens to the country,'' he said.
    It remains to be seen how the military high command will create democracy for the first time in a nation that traces its history back to the Pharaohs more than 5,000 years ago and that has seen such upheaval in an uprising that took just 18 days.
    The first priority was law and order ahead of the start of the working week which begins on Sunday in Egypt. Army tanks and soldiers stayed on the streets guarding key intersections and government building after a disgraced police force melted away.
    But with the menace of possible confrontation between the army and protesters now gone, Cairo residents took souvenir photographs of each other with smiling soldiers at roadblocks to record the first day of a new post-Mubarak era.
    Ibrahim Hussein, an employee of the state-run petrol company, said people should start to move on after the massive protests achieved their goals.
    "I want these people to just go home after we have achieved what we wanted. We wanted Hosni Mubarak to leave because he was an oppressor and other leaders were oppressive and they need to be put on trial but at the same time we shouldn't paralyze the interests of the country, otherwise we just go back 100 years,'' he said.
    For many Egyptians there was a fierce pride in what they had achieved.
    "I have come from 400 kilometres away, leaving my children and my home and everything in order to participate with the Egyptian people in removing the oppression that was being forced on us," said Abdel Aziz Rida, a lawyer, who had just left Tahrir Square, the main focus for the anti-Mubarak protests.
    "Thank God, the people of Egypt from all sects managed to changed their fate and prove to the world that the Egyptians are real men,'' he added.
    As the clear-up from 18 days of protests and occasional violent outbursts continued, a truck carting away a burned out police car was a vivid symbol of the revolution which unseated an unpopular ruler.
    Adults and children alike revelled in their achievement, flashing the V for victory hand signal made famous by Britain's war-time prime minister Winston Churchill.
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