He's Gone!

Just a quick update to my last post.  Yesterday, less than 24 hours after he said he would not stand down, Hosni Mubarak resigned as President of Egypt. The country is now in the hands of the military until elections can be held.

Today the people were once again on the streets, this time to clear up!  They were even replacing the cobbles, that only a couple of days before, they were using as missiles!

When the announcement was made I was in the cinema and didn't know until later that evening.

Fire In Cairo

Last night I watched the protests in Egypt (along with a TV audience of millions).  The January 25th movement seemed to have achieved their goal.  A speech by President Mubarak was expected to be his last, in which he would say he would stand down. 

As the crowds in Tahrir Square waited the rest of the world watched.  Twitter was alive with rumours that he was about to step aside.  Eventually Mubarak appeared on state TV. As he spoke it became clear he wasn't going to go.  He would stay until fair and open elections could be held. It seems that he had been set to go but then changed his mind.

Today, the crowds are still there (their 18th day) and it looks like there will be further blood shed (300 dead since the protests began).  Mubarak has been in power for 30 years but the people have had enough. Unemployment and poverty seem to have been the catalyst. Western leaders talk of democracy but behind the scenes are worried as Mubarak has kept Egypt stable. 

In the late 80s and early 90s there was a growing sense of change.  In the space of a couple of years we had the 1st Gulf War. The end of apartheid  which saw Mandela released after 25 years in jail. The fall of the Berlin Wall and, here in England, rioting on the streets helped see an end to the Poll Tax and with it Margaret Thatcher.  As events unfolded last night I felt that same sense of change in the air. This time the war is in Afghanistan and regime change in Egypt and Tunisia. At a time when there is unrest amongst the British public over government spending cuts it could be a very interesting couple of years indeed.