Across Cairo, Scenes Of Triumph As Mubarak Resigns

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block, on this transformative day in Egypt, when three decades of autocratic rule under President Hosni Mubarak came to an end.

(Soundbite of cheering)

Unidentified Man #1: (Speaking in foreign language)

(Soundbite of fireworks)

SIEGEL: Fireworks shook Cairo and cheers rang out across Egypt after the 82-year-old president resigned his post, following 18 days of massive street protests.

BLOCK: The brief announcement came just after 6 p.m. local time. It was delivered by a somber Vice President Omar Suleiman, heard here in translation on Al-Jazeera.

Vice President OMAR SULEIMAN (Egypt): (Through Translator) President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak has decided to waive the office of the president of the republic and instructed the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to run the affairs of the country. May God guide our steps.

SIEGEL: A council of military leaders is now in charge. And many questions remain - questions that we are exploring throughout our program today.

BLOCK: First, to the heart of the celebration in Cairo, to Tahrir Square, or Liberation Square, and to NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, who spent the day among the sea of people celebrating.

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: The sounds that you can hear behind me are the sounds of fireworks bursting over Tahrir Square this evening. A scene of absolute jubilation: people singing, hugging each other, absolutely euphoric. And they're not really thinking too much about what the next step will be. People have their opinions. They are leery, in some cases, of the military.

I've heard Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, named as a possible presidential candidate, someone they'd like to see as a president. Everything is up in the air. Everything is open at the moment. And I think there's a real sense of expectation that tomorrow will be a better day. There is some trepidation as well, but right now it's just a scene of celebration. People really just want to enjoy the feeling.

And I'm here with two of the protesters, one of them who has been here since the very beginning. This is Sakhi Saher(ph). I'm going to pass the phone.

Mr. SAKHI SAHER: Hello.

BLOCK: Hi, Mr. Saher, thanks for talking with us. Why don't you describe the emotion of this day for you?

Mr. SAHER: The emotions are everybody is happy. We're jumping in the street. We couldn't believe it at first. People were praying in the streets. It's just amazing. It's sensational.

BLOCK: Looking forward, what is the country - what is the Egypt that you imagine in the future?

Mr. SAHER: I guess, now, everybody - every Egyptian feels that the country really belongs to them. The country is back. Your work is for yourself. Every good that comes to the country comes - is reflected on you, on every person. And this is amazing. This is amazing because people had lost the trust in the system, and hence, really lost any sense of belonging to the country.

So now, we're going to witness a new country with new order, with new politeness amongst the people and no one throwing garbage in the streets - things of that sort. It's really - it's going to be a new start, new beginning.

BLOCK: I think you have another of your fellow celebrants there with you, Eva al-Tamimi(ph). Is she there?

Ms. EVA Al-TAMIMI: Hi.

BLOCK: Tell me about the emotions that you've gone through over the past 24 hours.

Ms. Al-TAMIMI: Oh, it's absolutely incredible. Everyone is just absolutely ecstatic. Everyone feels so rewarded for just such a very difficult period, I believe. I mean, people put their lives in danger, put their parents' lives in danger.

The country was in complete turmoil. There were, you know, there were a lot of attacks on people's homes and properties by Mubarak's thugs, so it's been quite difficult and just - everyone feels so rewarded, and I don't - everyone doesn't quite believe it because people have been oppressed for so long that, you know, they almost can believe in that when they really speak up and push for what they deserve and what they -and their rights, they can actually earn them.

And it's just - I think on a social level, on a psychological level for the Egyptian people, this is a complete transformation.

BLOCK: Egypt is, of course, still under emergency law with a military leadership in place. Do you have any concerns that all of the change that you imagine right now may not come to pass?

Ms. Al-TAMIMI: It's a little unsettling, because, obviously, this is not necessarily the ideal scenario. If we weren't, you know, living under such a dictatorship and if it weren't the fact that he had elected a vice president and an entire Cabinet of people that were from the NDP and were completely corrupt to begin with.

So in the current circumstances of the choices that we had, this seems like the most reasonable option for the coming interim period until the next presidential elections and during which there would be constitutional reforms and, hopefully, dissolving the existing parliament.

Now - yeah, it's a bit unsettling. We're not entirely sure what the agenda is of the military, but the news is we are a country of over 80 million people who feel incredibly empowered in this moment of time. And, you know, if there is something that doesn't come our way, the way we want it, then there will be something that will be done about it to correct it.

So this is how we feel. We just feel like no matter what comes our way right now, we can do something about it, and it's an amazing feeling.

BLOCK: That's protester-turned-celebrator Eva al-Tamimi. We also heard from Sakhi Saher and from NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro all in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.