[News] Hosni Mubarak resigns as president

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Hosni Mubarak resigns as president

Egyptian president stands down and hands over power to the Supreme 
Council for the Armed Forces.
Last Modified: 11 Feb 2011 16:39 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121125158705862.html

[]

Pro-democracy protesters in Tahrir Square have vowed to take the 
protests to a 'last and final stage' [AFP]

Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has resigned from his post, 
handing over power to the armed forces.

Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, announced in a televised address 
that the president was "waiving" his office, and had handed over 
authority to the Supreme Council of the armed forces.

Suleiman's short statement was received with a roar of approval and 
by celebratory chanting and flag-waving from a crowd of hundreds of 
thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square, as well by pro-democracy 
campaigners who attended protests across the country on Friday.

The crowd in Tahrir chanted "We have brought down the regime",  while 
many were seen crying, cheering and embracing one another.

Mohamed ElBaradei, an opposition leader, hailed the moment as being 
the "greatest day of my life", in comments to the Associated Press news agency.

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression,'' he said.

"Tonight, after all of these weeks of frustration, of violence, of 
intimidation ... today the people of Egypt undoubtedly [feel they] 
have been heard, not only by the president, but by people all around 
the world," our correspondent at Tahrir Square reported, following 
the announcement.

"The sense of euphoria is simply indescribable," our correspondent at 
Mubarak's Heliopolis presidential palace, where at least ten thousand 
pro-democracy activists had gathered, said.

"I have waited, I have worked all my adult life to see the power of 
the people come to the fore and show itself. I am speechless." Dina 
Magdi, a pro-democracy campaigner in Tahrir Square told Al Jazeera.

"The moment is not only about Mubarak stepping down, it is also about 
people's power to bring about the change that no-one ... thought possible."

In Alexandria, Egypt's second city, our correspondent described an 
"explosion of emotion". He said that hundreds of thousands were 
celebrating in the streets.

Pro-democracy activists in the Egyptian capital and elsewhere had 
earlier marched on presidential palaces, state television buildings 
and other government installations on Friday, the 18th consecutive 
day of protests.

Anger at state television

At the state television building earlier in the day, thousands had 
blocked people from entering or leaving, accusing the broadcaster of 
supporting the current government and of not truthfully reporting on 
the protests.

"The military has stood aside and people are flooding through [a gap 
where barbed wire has been moved aside]," Al Jazeera's correspondent 
at the state television building reported.

He said that "a lot of anger [was] generated" after Mubarak's speech 
last night, where he repeated his vow to complete his term as president.

'Gaining momentum'

Outside the palace in Heliopolis, where at least ten thousand 
protesters had gathered in Cairo, another Al Jazeera correspondent 
reported that there was a strong military presence, but that there 
was "no indication that the military want[ed] to crack down on protesters".
<http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/anger-in-egypt/>
[]

Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage

She said that army officers had engaged in dialogue with protesters, 
and that remarks had been largely "friendly".

Tanks and military personnel had been deployed to bolster barricades 
around the palace.

Our correspondent said the crowd in Heliopolis was "gaining momentum 
by the moment", and that the crowd had gone into a frenzy when two 
helicopters were seen in the air around the palace grounds.

"By all accounts this is a highly civilised gathering. people are 
separated from the palace by merely a barbed wire ... but nobody has 
even attempted to cross that wire," she said.

As crowds grew outside the palace, Mubarak left Cairo on Friday for 
the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Shaikh, according to sources who spoke 
to Al Jazeera.

In Tahrir Square, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered, 
chanting slogans against Mubarak and calling for the military to join 
them in their demands.

Our correspondent at the square said the "masses" of pro-democracy 
campaigners there appeared to have "clear resolution" and "bigger 
resolve" to achieve their goals than ever before.

However, he also said that protesters were "confused by mixed 
messages" coming from the army, which has at times told them that 
their demands will be met, yet in communiques and other statements 
supported Mubarak's staying in power until at least September.

Army statement

In a 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121111330706342.html>statement 
read out on state television at midday on Friday, the military 
announced that it would lift a 30-year-old 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121161511674298.html>emergency 
law but only "as soon as the current circumstances end".
IN VIDEO


Thousands are laying siege to state television's office

The military said it would also guarantee changes to the constitution 
as well as a free and fair election, and it called for normal 
business activity to resume.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tahrir Square said people there were 
hugely disappointed with that army statement, and had vowed to take 
the protests to "a last and final stage".

"They're frustrated, they're angry, and they say protests need to go 
beyond Liberation [Tahrir] Square, to the doorstep of political 
institutions," she said.

Protest organisers have called for 20 million people to come out on 
"Farewell Friday" in a final attempt to force Mubarak to step down.

Alexandria protests

Hossam El Hamalawy, a pro-democracy organiser and member of the 
Socialist Studies Centre, said protesters were heading towards the 
presidential palace from multiple directions, calling on the army to 
side with them and remove Mubarak.

"People are extremely angry after yesterday's speech," he told Al 
Jazeera. "Anything can happen at the moment. There is self-restraint 
all over but at the same time I honestly can't tell you what the next 
step will be ... At this time, we don't trust them [the army 
commanders] at all."

An Al Jazeera reporter overlooking Tahrir said the side streets 
leading into the square were filling up with crowds.

"It's an incredible scene. From what I can judge, there are more 
people here today than yesterday night," she said.
[]

Hundreds of thousands of protesters havehered
in the port city of Alexandria [AFP]

"The military has not gone into the square except some top 
commanders, one asking people to go home ... I don't see any kind of 
tensions between the people and the army but all of this might change 
very soon if the army is seen as not being on the side of the people."

Hundreds of thousands were participating in Friday prayers outside a 
mosque in downtown Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city.

Thousands of pro-democracy campaigners also gathered outside a 
presidential palace in Alexandria.

Egyptian television reported that large angry crowds were heading 
from Giza, adjacent to Cairo, towards Tahrir Square and some would 
march on the presidential palace.

Protests are also being held in the cities of Mansoura, Mahala, 
Tanta, Ismailia, and Suez, with thousands in attendance.

Violence was reported in the north Sinai town of el-Arish, where 
protesters attempted to storm a police station. At least one person 
was killed, and 20 wounded in that attack, our correspondent said.

Dismay at earlier statement

In a televised 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/02/2011210234022306527.html#>address 
to the nation on Thursday, Mubarak said he was handing "the functions 
of the president" to Vice-President Omar Suleiman. But the move means 
he retains his title of president.

Halfway through his much-awaited speech late at night, anticipation 
turned into anger among protesters camped in 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121103522508343.html>Tahrir 
Square who began taking off their shoes and waving them in the air.

Immediately after Mubarak's speech, Suleiman called on the protesters 
to "go home" and asked Egyptians to "unite and look to the future."

<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112913546831171.html>Union 
workers have joined the protests over the past few days, effectively 
crippling transportation and several industries, and dealing a 
sharper blow to Mubarak's embattled regime.





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