Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr Mohammed El Baradei announced in Vienna that he would be returning to Egypt to join the Egyptian protests in Cairo on Friday 28th January (The Day of Anger). This, together with his call for Mubarak to resign fuelled the first real revolutionary sparks all over Egypt. The mass popular uprisings that started in Tunisia provided the spark that ignited fires elsewhere in the region, especially in Egypt.

Thursday afternoon, on the eve of the Day of Anger, a page by Egyptian bloggers and social media activists on Facebook listed more than 30 mosques and churches in Cairo alone where the protesters were expected to gather. According to Facebook, following Friday prayers people were to go out on the streets to fight for their dignity and against corruption, unemployment, oppression and the absence of freedom. On the dawn of Friday, the Day of Anger, all communications in Egypt shut down including mobile phone networks and that day I could not contact my friends to go together to Dr El Baradei’s rally in Giza Square. At noon together with some other friends, we joined the protesters in Giza Square where some 50,000 protesters were shouting angrily against Mubarak and his regime to step down.

The police surrounded us between Giza Square and the University of Cairo and prevented us from marching to Tahrir Square by using teargas, water cannon and beating those protesters within reach. They even placed Dr Mohammed El Baradei under house arrest to prevent the people and the media from reaching him. Together, with thousands of Giza Square protesters, I managed to reach the 6 October Bridge to cross over the Nile and walk towards Tahrir Square. In Tahrir Square the situation was dramatic with the police using sticks, firing rubber bullets, teargas and water cannon to attack the protesters without mercy. Protesters were severely beaten and some were even killed, and the death toll was increasing alarmingly. That evening the police were withdrawn from streets all over Egypt and criminals were freed from prisons and armed to terrorise the common people. This was a criminal act by the regime of Mubarak and the international community strongly condemned and criticized the regime for using violence against its own people.

On Saturday morning I went back to Tahrir Square − no police, no teargas, no water cannon, no violence. The demonstration was peaceful, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians from all walks of life shouted with one voice “Down, down with Hosni Mubarak”. In those days in Tahrir Square I saw joining the protesters people whose faces are famous all over the Middle East, people that one would normally see on TV. From intellectuals, to journalist, artists, film stars and literary figures like the author Alaa Al Aswany (The Yacoubian Building) and also one of the founders of Kefaya and the film star Amr Waked.

The demonstrations in Egypt were started by bloggers and social media activists and the people of Egypt broke through a barrier of fear they had known for generations and rose in revolt. Anger had long been brewing in Egypt, with the increase in unemployment, poverty, low wages, high food prices and lack of freedom. In fact, the opposition leaders for many years were calling on the government for some reforms in Egyptian politics, but what surprised many people in the Middle East was that young protesters from the first were calling for Mubarak to resign. So their demand was greater than that of the opposition leaders.

During those days the protests were peaceful and on Wednesday morning I made my way to Tahrir Square. I thought I was walking towards the pro-democracy protesters but unfortunately found myself in the middle of the pro-Mubarak ‘protesters’, who were identified later to be criminals hired by the government for the day, and security officers wearing civilian clothes. I tried to enter Tahrir Square from six different streets, but the pro-Mubarak ‘protesters’ blocked these entrances from where they were directing all their violence towards the pro-democracy protesters in the square. The scene in front of me was like a war zone, injured people and blood everywhere. On my way home every 5km or so the car was stopped by pro-Mubarak criminals who demanded to know why we did not have the photo of Mubarak displayed on the windscreen and why we did not carry an Egyptian flag. When one told them that we did not have a photo, a photo was immediately given and this scene repeated itself several times during the trip that night.

Now that the Mubarak era is over, the power of the people has come to Egypt, the mother of the Arab world. This was a revolution for social justice and freedom and the people felt a sense of unity in the rejection of Mubarak’s dictatorial corrupt regime.

The Egyptian people made a historic change and after 30 years have woken up to a new dawn. The young people have spoken and their voices have been heard and Egypt will never be the same. The Egyptian protesters have inspired the whole world with their peaceful demonstrations and we are seeing the beginning of a new era in Egypt and the Middle East.

Many feel that it’s better to die for something than live for nothing!

Moustafa Megawer

QAWRA