CAIRO -- Cries of "Egypt is free" rang out and fireworks lit up the sky as hundreds of thousands danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium Friday after 18 days of peaceful pro-democracy protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to surrender power to the military, ending three decades of authoritarian rule.
Ecstatic protesters in Cairo's Tahrir, or Liberation, Square hoisted soldiers onto their shoulders and families posed for pictures in front of tanks in streets flooded with people streaming out to celebrate. Strangers hugged each other, some fell to kiss the ground, and others stood stunned in disbelief.
Chants of "Hold your heads high, you're Egyptian" roared with each burst of fireworks overhead.
"I'm 21 years old and this is the first time in my life I feel free," an ebullient Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, born eight years after Mubarak came to power, said as he hugged fellow protesters in Tahrir Square.
An astonishing day in which hundreds of thousands marched on Mubarak's palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and besieged state TV was capped by the military effectively carrying out a coup at the pleas of protesters. After Mubarak's fall, the military, which pledged to shepherd reforms for greater democracy, told the nation it would announce the next steps soon. Those could include the dissolving of parliament and creation of a transitional government.
Mubarak's downfall at the hands of the biggest popular uprising in the modern history of the Arab world had stunning implications for the United States and the West, Israel, and the region, unsettling rulers across the Mideast.
The 82-year-old leader epitomized the complex trade-off the United States was locked into in the Middle East for decades: Support for autocratic leaders in return for stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants, a safeguard of economic interests with the oil-rich Gulf states and peace - or at least an effort at peace - with Israel.
The question for Washington now was whether that same arrangement will hold as the Arab world's most populous state makes a potentially rocky transition to democracy, with no guarantee of the results.
At the White House, President Barack Obama said "Egyptians have inspired us." He noted the important questions that lay ahead, but said, "I'm confident the people of Egypt can find the answers."
Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young supporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press, "This is the greatest day of my life."
"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he said adding that he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.
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AP reports: Egypt's state and pro-government media have abruptly changed their tune. Faithful mouthpieces of Hosni Mubarak's regime until the end, they now celebrate the ouster of the longtime Egyptian president and pledge to be more attentive to ordinary Egyptians. State TV even promised to be more truthful in its reporting. During the 18-day uprising, state TV and pro-Mubarak newspapers portrayed the hundreds of thousands of protesters as a minority of troublemakers. While raucous protests raged in downtown Cairo, state-run Al-Nil TV showed serene videos of the Nile River. But on Saturday, a day after Mubarak's resignation, the message had been turned upside down. "The people ousted the regime," proclaimed the once pro-Mubarak Al-Ahram on its front page. A state TV journalist, reporting from outside Mubarak's Cairo palace where thousands had gathered after Mubarak's ouster, said that "at these moments, Egyptians are breathing freedom." And an editorial by the state-run daily Al-Gomhouria called for greater transparency, complaining that "the sharks of the old regime sucked the life from Egypt." The Armed Forces Supreme Council, which assumed control of the country from Mubarak, has made clear it would continue to use the government-funded outlets as a platform, with a series of appearances by a uniformed spokesman announcing plans. Read more here. Twenty minutes after Mubarak gave up power, filmmaker Ramy Rizkallah grabbed his camera and hit the streets to document the historic moment. AP reports: Thousands of Algerians defied a government ban on protests and a massive deployment of riot police to rally in the capital Saturday, demanding democratic reforms a day after similar protests toppled Egypt's authoritarian leader. Heavily armed police tried to seal off the city of Algiers, blocking streets, lining up along the march route and setting up barricades outside the city to try to stop busloads of demonstrators from reaching the capital. But despite the heavy security, thousands flooded into downtown Algiers, clashing with police who reportedly outnumbered them at least three-to-one. A human rights activist said more than 400 people were arrested. Tensions have been high in this sprawling North African nation of 35 million since five days of riots in early January over high food prices. Despite its vast gas reserves, Algeria has long been beset by widespread poverty and high unemployment, and some have predicted it could be next Arab country hit by the popular protests that have already ousted two longtime Arab leaders in a month. Read more here. Haaretz reports on a phone call Mubarak made with israeli lawmaker Benjamin Ben-Eliezer a day before he resigned the presidency. "He gave me a lesson in democracy and said: 'We see the democracy the United States spearheaded in Iran and with Hamas, in Gaza, and that's the fate of the Middle East,'" Ben-Eliezer said. "'They may be talking about democracy but they don't know what they're talking about and the result will be extremism and radical Islam,'" he quoted Mubarak as saying. Read more here. LA Times reports: In Tahrir Square debates raged as some speakers called for the demonstrators to stay camped out until the army took clear steps on elections and a new constitution, setting up a transitional government and dissolving the old parliament. Others disagreed and said now was the time for people to go home and return to their ordinary lives. Read more here. CNN reports: It was unclear whether the statement signalled a return of the police security apparatus, noticeably absent from the streets after the violent clashes and the deployment of the ar Read more here. The Washington Post reports that protesters are 'staying put' in Tahrir Square: Smaller but still vibrant crowds of elated Egyptians packed the square in central Cairo to take stock of their improbable success at ousting President Hosni Mubarak and to contemplate what might come next. Soldiers remained posted outside the square, ostensibly to maintain order, but they grinned approvingly at the spectacle unfolding before them. "We're staying put. We're not leaving until the regime is gone," said Issa Adel Issa, one of the many youthful organizers of the encampment at Tahrir, or Liberation, Square. "We don't want a military government. We want a democracy with civilians in charge." Read more here. Ap reports: Egypt's ruling military reassured its international allies Saturday that there would be no break in its peace deal with Israel following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, and it lay out the first tentative steps to keep Egypt's economy and state functioning while it figures out how to overhaul the country for greater democracy. The military statement, aired on state TV, was its first, cautious attempt to define the next steps after Mubarak handed over power to a council of his top generals and resigned on Friday in the face of an 18-day wave of popular protests. The military's statement did not rule out these steps might still be carried out. A spokesman for the Armed Forces Supreme Council underlined the military's "commitment to all Egypt's international treaties." Israel has been deeply concerned that Egypt's turmoil could threaten the 1979 peace accord signed between the two countries. The United States, Egypt's top ally, is also eager to ensure the accord remains in place. The military strongly supports the accord, not in small part because it guarantees U.S. aid for the armed forces, currently running at $1.3 billion a year. Anti-Israeli feeling is strong in Egypt, and many of the hundreds of thousands of protesters expressed anger at Mubarak's close cooperation with Israel on a range of issues. Still, few seriously call for the abrogation of the treaty, realizing the international impact. AP reports: Yemeni police with clubs on Saturday beat anti-government protesters who were celebrating the resignation of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and demanding the ouster of their own president. region. The United States is in a delicate position because it advocates democratic reform, but wants stability in Yemen because it is seen as a key ally in its fight against Islamic militants. Meanwhile Algerians rallied in their capital, defying a protest ban and calling for reform. The LA Times reports: "Allahu akbar, the pharaoh is dead," Nassef said on the air, his voice rising with emotion. "Am I dreaming? I'm afraid to be dreaming." Across the Middle East, the euphoria was contagious. Young men waved flags through the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank, spontaneous rallies broke out at the Egyptian Embassy in Jordan, and people across the region ripped through the contact lists on their cellphones to share an empowering sense of incredulity, followed by possibility, that accompanied the news. Read more here. AP reports: With Egypt's military leading a hoped-for drive to democracy, President Barack Obama's senior military adviser was heading to the Mideast on Saturday to reassure two key allies Jordan, facing its own rumblings of civil unrest, and Israel, which sees its security at stake in a wider transformation of the Arab world. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was stopping first in Amman for meetings Sunday with senior Jordanian officials, including King Abdullah II. Jordan has seen five weeks of protests inspired by unrest in Tunisia and later Egypt, though the numbers of marchers has been decreasing. Mullen was then scheduled to travel to Tel Aviv for meetings and ceremonies Sunday and Monday marking the retirement of his Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. Mullen had no plans to visit Egypt on this trip. Israel is deeply worried about the prospect that Hosni Mubarak's ouster could lead to the emergence of a government less friendly to the Jewish state. AP reports: Egypt's military rulers have promised the country will abide by its international agreements, a nod to allay concerns that Egypt's peace deal with Israel could be threatened following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The military has also asked the current government, appointed by Mubarak, to continue operating until a new one is formed. It also says it is committed to eventually handing over power to an elected administration. Saturday's military statement is its first indication of the next steps after Mubarak's fall, but left unanswered the question of how long the current government would stay in place. AP reports: From London to Gaza City to Seoul, the world was savoring the spectacular fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, with demonstrators rallying in the thousands Saturday in cities across the world. But other authoritarian regimes weren't celebrating and some are trying to censor the news. In China, where the ruling Communist Party ruthlessly stamps out dissent, terse media reports downplayed the large-scale pro-democracy protests in Egypt that forced Mubarak from power and instead emphasized the country's disorder and lawlessness. In oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, where coup leader Teodoro Obiang has held sway since 1979, state-controlled media was ordered to stop reporting about Egypt altogether, according to African news site afrol.com. Nearly everywhere else, newspapers congratulated Egypt's revolution, with many headlines carrying the word: "Finally." The headlines were matched with an outpouring of international support, with rallies in Britain, South Korea and the Palestinian territories, among other places. Read more here. The New York Times warns that despite all the jubilation, Egypt and the Arab world have moved into uncharted territory: The months and years ahead will determine whether the fervor and community of Tahrir Square can translate into a new notion of citizenship, a truce between the state and Islamists and the curbing of the entrenched power of militaries, the police and suffocating bureaucracies that have failed to deliver young people a better life in an Arab world that is becoming ever younger. SIt"s not the end, said Nadia Magdy, a protester in the square. SIt"s the beginning.
"He had very tough things to say about the United States," said Ben-Eliezer, a member of the Labor Party who has held talks with Mubarak on numerous occasions while serving in various Israeli coalition governments.
A coalition of pro-democracy activists who helped launched the Jan. 25 demonstration in Tahrir Square that ultimately proved Mubarak's undoing told a press conference they had faith in the army to lead a transition. They called for a party in Tahrir Square in a week's time to honor the popular uprising. But even as they spoke, their rambunctious coalition of youth organizers and Islamists showed cracks as a woman started shouting that the revolution had been hijacked and people yelled back and forth.
The armed forces council calls on the people to cooperate with the policemen," said a military spokesman reading out a statement on state television. "The police are to serve the people."
my. Even as they celebrated their triumph over a dictator, many of Egypt's revolutionaries vowed Saturday to continue their peaceful occupation of Tahrir Square, saying their demands for democracy and accountability were still unmet.
The announcement of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's exit Friday was too much for Amr Nassef, an Egyptian who anchors the news on Al Manar TV, which is operated by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But in the gray light of dawn, Egypt will face the meaning of its revolution, as will an Arab world that shares its demographic of a younger generation taking the stage, posing challenges as myriad as Mr. Mubarak"s departure was singular.
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