IFE Egyptian Fellow Reda Saeed reports from Cairo (UPDATED)

I’ve been covering the events today from Tahrir Square in Cairo for NHK.

And the situation now is like the following:

Youth protesters do believe that there’s NO WAY that Mubarak can stay for a
single day, as his revenge will be furious, and the problem now is that there’s
no serious or popular alternative for him, as he never allowed any other voice
in the street for decades …

Now the most accepted idea is for Mubarak to step down and his vice to take
over for 60 days until some real presidential elections can start. During the
60 days, the parliament needs to change the constitution of Egypt to allow
more people to be elected …

There are millions of anti-Mubarak protesters now … you can hear
their chants from kilometers away; it’s a matter of hours until Mubarak
resign … he must do it; if not, the millions will make their way toward the presidential
palace …

What ALL Egyptians are aware of now: THEY WILL NEVER LET ANYONE BRING DEMOCRACY
TO THEIR COUNTRY; THEY CAN DO IT THEMSELVES.

What they all want is change …

And the pro-Mubarak outlaws are hiding now for sure … they can’t resist
millions …

Egypt is waiting, and I’m so worried about the economic crisis
that Egypt will face after it all.

You know, I’ve never been proud being Egyptian more than now … Egyptians
now are rewriting the history of not only Egypt but the whole Middle East
and Arab world, if not the whole world.

Update No. 1, 7:55 p.m. Cairo local time

Egyptians’ new government paid utility bills for the Egyptians (phone, electricity,
water) …

What’s confirmed here is that the protesters here WILL NEVER allow the Muslim
Brotherhood to steal their uprising, and Egypt will NEVER be like Iran.

For example:

Muslim Brotherhood are participating like any other Egyptian wave, BUT whenever
they try to add any religious symbols or flavor to the demonstrations, like
waving with the Quran up in the air, or writing their slogan (“Islam is the
solution”), the other protesters force them to put it down.

Update No. 2, 8:15 p.m. Cairo local time

Egyptians are SUPER happy about the news of Egyptian authorities preventing
some former ministers from traveling and freezing their assets — Travel, Industry
& Trade, Tourism, National Security ministries — and more important, the
superstar of corruption, Ahmed Ezz, who is the right arm of Jamal Mubarak and
makes more than $3.7 billion U.S. per year.

Update No. 3

Rumors are filling the horizon over Egypt …

But what’s confirmed is for the first time in several decades, Egyptians are
hearing the government apologizing — the wordsorry was a taboo
and still a big taboo in Mubarak’s regime dictionary, but yesterday the new PM
addressed the nation and apologized about what happened at Tahrir Square for
the anti-Mubarak protesters, esp. the night before he promised the safety of
the protesters there, but what’s really amazing is that while he was
apologizing they cut the transmission, like Mubarak or his vice were not happy
about what he was saying …

Also today for the first time in history he speaks to an independent TV
channel, Al-Arabiya, and he’s a real good media man … his popularity is growing
… on the other side the Egyptian national TV is playing with the classic way like
if it was in the ’60s,.. very naïve and Egyptians are boycotting it …

— Reda Saeed, Institute for Education Egyptian fellow.

Kathy Kemper is founder and CEO of the Institute for Education, a nonprofit foundation that recognizes and promotes leadership and civility locally, nationally and in the world community.