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Subscribe to RSSMore than 10,000 people stormed the streets in protest after Vladimir Putin’s victory in Russia’s presidential election. NBC’s Jim Maceda reports from Moscow.
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NBC's Afghanistan correspondent answers readers' questions about the Quran outrage
Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images
Angry afghans attacked U.S. bases after reports of Quran desecration.
There have been violent protests across Afghanistan since it emerged on Tuesday that copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, used by detainees held at the Bagram military base had been burned.
The incident has become a public relations disaster for foreign forces in Afghanistan, more than 10 years after the U.S. invasion of the country began.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama sent a letter to Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai apologizing for the burning of copies of the Quran at a NATO military base, but it is uncertain whether or not that will quell the anger.
NBC News Correspondent in Kabul, Atia Abawi, answered reader questions about the controversy earlier today.
Click on the link below to replay the chat.
Anti-Putin protesters: Coping with bitter cold and big questions
Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP - Getty Images
Two of the organisers of the upcoming opposition rally "For Fair Elections," anti-Kremlin blogger Alexei Navalny (R) and former chess champion Garry Kasparov (L), speak as they attend a meeting of the rally organisers in Moscow, on Jan. 31, 2012.
MOSCOW – By any standard, it was an impressive array of individuals. Seated under a large poster of a young Andrei Sakharov – the Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, 1975 Nobel Peace Prize recipient and spiritual father of their movement – the brain trust of Moscow's anti-Putin opposition sat at card tables debating their next move.
The group was putting the finishing touches on the plan for this Saturday's protest – an hour march through central Moscow and a short rally across the Moskva River from the Kremlin. It will be the third mass opposition demonstration in Moscow since the December 4 parliamentary polls that were widely criticized for voter fraud in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s party.
Six weeks ago, more than 100,000 protesters took to the streets to vent their anger with the corruption and stagnation of the Putin regime. But since then, the end-of-year Russian holidays, followed by a Siberian cold snap with record-breaking temperatures, has undeniably sapped the protest movement's energy. The organizers collective fatigue was palpable.
Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, led the meeting. Not because he's so smart he almost beat a super computer at chess, but because his countless arrests and beatings at the hands of Russian riot police had earned him the mantle. Seated beside him were the two young stars of the new generation of Russian dissidents, the right-of-center blogger Alexei Navalny and socialist activist Sergei Udaltsov.
Str / AFP - Getty Images
Opposition activists hang their banner reading: "Putin, go!" atop a bulding's roof, just over the Moskva River river from the Kremlin (foreground) in Moscow, on Feb. 1.
Both men, in their 30's, had recently spent weeks in jail on charges of organizing illegal protests. Now they were subdued, speaking occasionally, but more often just listening, scrolling through their iPhone messages or tweeting.
Opposite Kasparov, sat Vladimir Ryzhkov. He too had paid his dues. Once the youngest MP elected to Boris Yeltsin's parliament at age 27, Ryzhkov, broad-minded and articulate, was seen rather differently by Putin's Kremlin. The “dangerous” reformer has effectively been ostracized from mainstream politics.
“No doubt the Russian Winter is not as inviting as the Arab Spring,” Kasparov quipped. “But I would say that 30, 40 or 50,000 in this weather will send a message across the river to the Kremlin.''
But what message will that be? Putin's propaganda machine will likely jump on any smaller turn-out, proving, they will no doubt say, that the protest is petering out.
By the end of their two hour meeting the protest organizers were clearly divided over what to do next to regain some momentum.
Navalny argued that the mass protests of December needed to grow bigger and more frequent to pressure the Kremlin. But author Boris Akunin argued that the days of the big protests were over. They were too costly, too time-consuming, and had already peaked. It was time, he said, to focus on smaller, flash mob-generated actions.
Misha Japaridze / AP
Russian opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov shows a V sign after he was released from a detention center in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. Udaltsov, whose jailing became a rallying point for the Russian opposition, has been freed after a month in custody.
Indeed, across Moscow, such “attacks” are growing in number. On any given day, small groups of protesters walk out of the city's many subway stations, their mouths covered with strips of masking tape, on which is written “We Have No Voice.” They're arrested almost as soon as they walk into the street. They also have tried cyber-attacks on the Kremlin's Internet. Within hours of the launch of Putin's own website, it was jammed by thousands of emails calling on him to resign.
And in arguably the most startling “protest,” several activists managed to hang a giant banner on the top of a building directly opposite the Kremlin for all to see. Painted on the banner, both Putin’s likeness covered by a huge “X,” and beneath it, the words, “Go Away!” in Russian. Amazingly it took an hour for the police to spot it and tear it down. But, while often hilarious, none of these flash mob tactics are likely to keep Putin from winning a six-year term in the March 4 presidential elections.
Kremlin's photo-doctoring backfires big time
Putin himself seems to have come to that conclusion. Creating massive traffic jams in central Moscow today as his convoy skidded over the icy snow from one campaign stop to another, he's got his swagger back. His camp believes the protest movement is too divided to coalesce around one opposition candidate. And, besides, the other official candidates – Communist Gennady Zyuganov, Nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Social Democrat Sergei Mironov and billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets Mikhail Prokhorov – are all Kremlin-approved because they pose no real threat.
Andrey Smirnov / AFP - Getty Images
A police officer braves the cold as he detains a demonstrator wearing a carnival costume of death who tried to take part in an unauthorized stage protest just outside the Interior Ministry headquarters in Moscow on Friday. The sign on the protester's chest says "Corruption."
So what happens to the movement if Putin wins? Ryzhkov painted a dark picture: “There will be mass protests starting March 5th,” he said in his Moscow home and office following the meeting. “And then we stay in the streets until reforms start and Putin promises new legislative and presidential elections.”
“You mean Tent Cities,” I asked?“Yes,” he replied. “Like the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.”
And what if Putin doesn't reform, but instead cracks down?
“Unfortunately Putin is a dangerous man. He can start some violence like [Syria’s] Bashar al-Assad or [Libya’s] Moammar Ghadafi. But I hope that if he sees a half million people in the streets, he will start reforms instead of violence.”
Many middle-class, well-educated Russians are calling the protests a turning point. But is it the beginning of the end of Putin's political career? Or rather the beginning of an unprecedented second 12-year run of power for the only real leader Russians have known this century?
The answer is blowing in a bone-chilling, Siberian wind.
Jim Maceda is an NBC News foreign correspondent based in London who has covered Russia and the former Soviet Union since the 1980's.
A protest only the French could cook up
Adrienne Mong / NBC News
A festive air dominated the anti-G20 protest in Nice on Tuesday.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Correspondent
NICE, France – As the Group of 20 leaders, aka the G-20, begin descending on the French Riviera for their annual summit this week, demonstrators have started to converge, too.
Protest organizers said some 6,000 people were expected to participate Tuesday in what they said would be their biggest march, but the group gathered around De Lattre de Tassigny Square in Nice looked to be a fraction of that forecast.
Despite the low turnout, the variety of interests represented was high. Some 40 different organizations, from the large (think Oxfam France and Greenpeace) to the small (local trade unions and grassroots Nice citizens' groups) had joined forces. There were South Korean trade unionists and nurses from Australia.
"I'm here to show support for Tibet," said Patrick Magne, a 50-something Nice resident toting a giant “Free Tibet” flag. "And to demonstrate against the G-20. China's government is a member of the G-20, and they've committed atrocities in Tibet."
“But,” he added as he looked at the myriad of demonstrators, “this protest here – it represents all my ideals and values."
Adrienne Mong / NBC News
A placard displays the protest slogan
Many of the placards called for higher taxes on the wealthy, an end to free trade, or a dissolution of the G-20. There were also more specialized voices in the mix, such as the one urging support for the women of Fukushima, the site of the nuclear power plant that was critically damaged by Japan's earthquake and tsunami last March.
"We're not happy with the financial system that has crushed everyone and crushed the whole world," said Linda Zuppiroli, a local Italian-French resident.
Zuppiroli, who is retired, said she and her husband had participated in many demonstrations in the past, but "they were to do with human rights."
They'd decided to join Tuesday's march because they felt life had become more difficult and more costly with "fewer liberties. … Too few people have equal access to opportunities or resources and everyone is paying for the mistakes of the greedy."
"The world debt system is destroying Europe and will destroy your country, too," said Jean Galmzhorn, a Frenchman who works in the construction business, where he says rampant property speculation and sky-high real estate prices have contributed to the decline of the quality of life in his community.
High security
Despite the low turnout, the French authorities were taking no chances. An estimated 12,000 security forces have been deployed across the French Riviera.Police speedboats and jet-skis bobbed side by side with the super yachts in the picturesque Cannes and Nice harbors. Hovering over the demonstrators were two helicopters. And on virtually every street corner of the protest route were clusters of helmeted riot police with batons and shields at the ready.
Adrienne Mong / NBC News
French authorities took no risks, deploying thousands of riot police across the French Riviera
Their presence seemed rather incongruous with the protest's somewhat festive and family-friendly atmosphere set against the sunny backdrop of the French Riviera.
"It does seem as though fewer people are taking part," said Galmzhorn, whose infant was sleeping in a stroller. "I've participated in demonstrations like this for 10 years, and it does seem to be fewer people."
"Maybe they're too preoccupied with making ends meet," he added. "Or maybe they're too busy trying to find a way to speculate, too."
With additional reporting from NBC's Peter Jeary and Nancy Ing.
Occupy Wall Street-style protests spread to Britain
By William Kennedy for msnbc.com
LONDON — A young woman spray-paints the final letter on a floral-patterned sheet. Unfurled it reads: "Occupy London, 15 Oct, occupylsx.org."
The small group of assembled activists applaud its look. “I love the kitschiness of it. It’s so ‘Laura Ashley’ English — perfect for a protest,” one says, namechecking the British brand known for its prim-and-proper fashions.
Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests on the other side of the Atlantic, demonstrators plan to establish a tent city in London’s City financial district next weekend.
Protests aimed at policies on Wall Street have spread to 45 cities across the US as consistently large crowds continue to occupy the financial district in New York City. NBC's Lilia Luciano reports.
“The Wall Street protests sort of inspired everything,” said Kai Wargalla, who co-created the Occupy London Facebook group. “It was just time to start here. We need people to step up and speak out.”
This movement aims to unite the United Kingdom’s far-flung activist communities in addressing "the inequality of the financial system," Wargalla said.
'Not just dirty hippies'
The dozen hipster-chic men and women making signs on Saturday in a funky, tropical-themed club in north London’s Hackney borough have varied protest backgrounds. Some come from "Free Bradley Manning" and anti-nuclear campaigns, others from the Spanish 15-M movement, which occupied Madrid on May 15.“These people are rightfully complaining about a lot of things,” said Matthew Slatter, an activist programmer with a theology degree. “They’re not just dirty hippies.”
William Kennedy
An activist prepares a banner ahead of the Occupy London protest planned for Oct. 15.
The mood was upbeat as aerosol fumes rose past African drums, palm tree cutouts and a faded pennant seeking to "Free Mohammed Hamid" — a street preacher who called himself "Osama bin London". He was convicted in 2008 of running terrorist training camps in the U.K.
“We’re the beginning of something,” said Ronan McNern, a member of U.K. rights group Queer Resistance who has a background in public relations. “People are not stakeholders in democracy, in the workings of the nation anymore. This [movement] gives a lot of hope for the future.”
Occupy London's members largely identify with the "We are the 99 Percent" slogan made popular by protesters in the U.S.
"There's something about the fact that 15,000 people are trying to march down Wall Street that is uniquely exciting," said Naomi Colvin, an activist who worked to get alleged Wikileaker Bradley Manning out of confinement "What’s happening in Wall Street is in a way a culmination of things that have gone on in southern Europe and the Middle East."
“We’re asking the government to be more accountable for regulating [the financial sector] in the interests of a few people, rather than the majority.
“Having a group of tents somewhere in London is quite symbolic,” she added. “This is now a city that most of the people working in can’t really afford to live in.”
By Sunday morning, Occupy London had more than 1,500 followers on Twitter and 3,000 had signed up to attend next weekend's event near the London Stock Exchange.
“I think it will only get stronger of time, just as we’ve seen in Wall Street,” Wargalla said.
But that will not be easy, McNern warned. “To sustain something like this in the British winter will be a nightmare,” he said.
'Israeli awakening' follows model of 'Arab spring'; more protests expected Saturday
John Ray, NBC News writes:
So, we've all seen and heard plenty of the Arab spring, stretching now into a bloody summer in Syria and Libya.
But maybe even more surprising is the sudden emergence of what inevitably will be called the Israeli awakening.
Nadav Neuhaus
Israeli Gilad Peled participates in a demonstration for socioeconomic change in Tel Aviv on Saturday, July 30. Peled is working two jobs and his wife just lost her job. They have a young girl and they can't pay all of their bills each month. Peled says he is fed up that politicians have forgotten who elected them to parliament and he says it's about time that they start working for the people and not the other way around.
Out of almost nowhere, a grassroots campaign has sprung up to challenge the nation's leaders.
What's more; it has nothing to do with the peace process, with Palestinians or West Bank settlements.
In fact, it's even bringing Arabs and Jews together. They share a common enemy. The soaring cost of living.
On Saturday, organizers are promising the 'mother or all demonstrations' to surpass the 150,000 strong protest that took to the streets last week.
That’s a remarkable figure in a country of just 7 million.
Nadav Neuhaus
Two weeks into Israel's housing protest, demonstrations are sweeping the country. More than 150,000 people took part in protests nationwide calling for socioeconomic change and demanding social justice.
Dairy farmers, army reservists, taxi drivers, even parents planning a "stroller protest" - all have played a part in demonstrations so far.
They have a long list of demands; action on rising rent, fuel, food and power costs. Tax breaks for the less well off; free schooling and changes to health system.
Israel is a heavily taxed nation; people are asking what they get for their money.
Part of the answer is the huge cost of security, a fact not lost on anyone.
"The sense here that we're living in a war zone, traumatized by terror - it's like we're not allowed to talk about 'small' issues, day-to-day stuff," one of the organizers, Stav Shaffir, a 26-year-old masters student, told the Guardian newspaper.
"But security also means education, health, housing. We don't want to be controlled by fear."
With opinion polls showing 90 percent public support the protests, Israelis seem to have found something to agree on.
Nadav Neuhaus
A protester uses a laptop In Tel Aviv's weeks-old tent encampment.
Egyptians on Mubarak: 'We never expected this'
Mohamed Muslemany/ NBC News
Egyptians in Cairo's Tahrir Square cheer the news that former President Hosni Mubarak has been detained while his alleged crimes are investigated on Wednesday.
CAIRO – Hours after it was announced that Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal had been detained, an animated crowd gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to discuss the news.
Mubarak, swept out after nearly 30 years in power by an 18-day people’s revolt, is being detained in a Sharm el-Sheikh hospital while he is investigated on accusations of corruption and abuse of authority. Investigators are looking into the killing of protesters during the popular uprising, the embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power. His sons are also being held in Tora Prison near a suburb of Cairo. They have all denied any wrongdoing.
Abdullah Gad, a government employee, said he came every Friday to protest during the revolution. He was so happy when he woke up to the news of Mubarak’s detention that he hopped on a train and traveled two hours to Tahrir Square. His wife, a teacher, left work to celebrate with family.
“I am very, very happy,” said Gad. “The best thing is that his sons went [to jail] before him because they are the reason for the destruction of this country.” He added: “I hope he is sentenced to death… He was no good. He killed people.”
Those comments were echoed by others in the square.
“I am so happy. It’s like a dream,” said a member of the Youth for Change group who wanted to remain anonymous. “We never expected this. We were only insisting that the regime be changed. The process should move quickly so that we can regain stability and prove that the military is serious about the process.”
Mohamed Abdel Rahman works in the oil sector and believes that Mubarak lined his pockets with profits from the industry.
“We used to pray we would not find oil because the profits went to foreign oil companies and the price of oil and gas was kept low. The money from the Suez Canal, oil and gas, gold mines was transferred to the presidency,” said Abdel Rahman. “The occupation of Egypt for 300 years did not top what Mubarak did in 30. He managed to destroy national unity.”
“Mubarak can’t fool the people” said Mahmoud Shahin, a public relations director, who thinks the former president is faking illness to avoid incarceration. “If the doctors say he is sick, we will know they are collaborating with him.”
Sabry, who didn’t give his last name, applauded the detentions but warned that the focus on imprisoning ex-officials while allowing the economy to flounder would only hurt the majority. “They will keep arresting one after another. Who will remain? There is nothing left, no work, no food for the kids. I have nothing! After ten years everybody will be arrested and there will be five million without food.”
A show of hands among the 20 bystanders who had gathered to discuss Mubarak with this reporter showed the vast majority in support of the death penalty.
One lone voice, a sweet-faced university student, spoke up for the former leader.
“Mubarak must be innocent because he never fled Egypt,” he reasoned.
A half-mile away, a small demonstration of about 30 people rallied for Mubarak’s innocence in front of the Egyptian state television building.“The people want the freedom of the president,” they chanted, protesting Mubarak’s detention.
“He was our president for 30 years. We should first look at the good he has done. There was a conspiracy against him,” a young woman with tears in her eyes defiantly insisted.
“We lived in security when he was there,” said housewife Faten Awa. She blamed a recent rise in crime on Mubarak’s absence. “My house has been robbed. Cars are being stolen, girls are being raped, they have allowed the thugs on us. We want the president back.”
But Ahmed Maher, a leader of the April 6 opposition movement that helped engineer the revolution who was reached by phone, saw the judicial decision as a validation and a warning to other Arab despots.
“We were living for this moment, and because of the arrests and oppression we faced, we knew this day was coming. This is a great message to other leaders. They should know if the revolution starts, nothing will stop it.”
Related link: NBC's Richard Engel answers readers questions about the Middle East
Ex-Tunisian president latest ousted Middle East leader rumored to be ill
AFP - Getty Images
March 21, 2006, photo shows then-Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife, Leila, attending a parade during ceremonies for the 50th anniversary of Tunisia's independence. Deposed Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is "in a coma" in a Saudi hospital following a stroke, says a family friend.
Just days after reports that ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak fell ill after stepping down, come reports from Reuters news agency of similar concerns that Tunisia's former leade.
Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali is in grave condition in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi source said on Thursday.
Ben Ali, 74, was ousted in a popular revolt last month and fled Tunisia after 23 years in power. He has been in exile in Saudi Arabia since then.
"He is in a grave condition," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, who said he was unsure which hospital was treating the former ruler.
The source did not say what Ben Ali was suffering from.
Ben Ali's overthrow sparked a series of popular uprisings which have rocked the Arab world and inspired the protests that forced out Mubarak.
He was seen as a leader who ensured political stability and economic growth but rode roughshod over human rights and democratic values. He denies the allegations.
A day at the beach for Egyptian protesters
AFP - Getty Images
After nearly three weeks of protests and upheaval, one could say many Egyptians have earned a day at the beach.
Egyptians hold their national flag as they celebrate the success of the popular revolt that drove veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak from power after 30 years, during a rally in the northern port of Alexandria Tuesday.
Who is Mubarak’s wife?
Francois Durand / Getty Images file
Suzanne Mubarak,left, and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy attend a Bastille Day ceremony in Paris on July 14, 2008.
By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com
In the wake of the news that Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s leader for the last 29 years, has finally responded to the demands of protesters and stepped down, who will he spend the rest of his life in “retirement” with?
Perhaps he will enjoy his life in exile with his wife of over 50 years, Suzanne Mubarak. (Although, rumor has it she may have fled to London several weeks ago when the protests got underway).
Nevertheless, who is she?
An advocate for women's rights
She has been noted for her fashion sense, cited as a Clinton family friend and was the subject of a fairly unflattering portrait in diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.But the sociologist and mother of two is most well-known for her fight to improve women’s and children’s rights – for which she has received many awards.
Suzanne was born in Menya, a town about 150 miles south of Cairo known for sugar processing and producing perfumes and soap. She met her future husband in the late 1950s when she was 16 and he was an officer in the Egyptian Air Force.
They married the next year, and a decade later she returned to school, eventually earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the American University in Cairo.
"I used to hear about Hosni Mubarak three years before I met him. My brother was his student at the Air Force Academy," according to a state-owned Egyptian TV documentary on the couple.
Her resume cites a number of activities, including serving as president of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, founder of the Integrated Care Society in 1977, a non-profit aimed at providing health care and other social, cultural services to schoolchildren; and president of the Egyptian National Women Committee in the mid-1990s.
Dylan Martinez / Reuters
Anti-government protesters celebrate inside Tahrir Square after the announcement of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation in Cairo on Friday. Click the photo to see a complete slideshow of the days events.
She also has a number of organizations and museums named after her, such as the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement, the Suzanne Mubarak Museum for Children and the Suzanne Mubarak Family Park.
While she has never played an overtly political role, during the weeks of massive anti-government protests people online were urging her to push her husband to step down. Kayak175 wrote on twitter: “Suzanne Mubarak - it's time for you to have a chat with your husband.”
'Less flattering' portrait in WikiLeaks cables
But some also alluded to corruption allegations dogging her family.The New York Times reported that, “A 2006 cable obtained by WikiLeaks described a 274-page report by an opposition political group detailing accusations of corruption by the president’s wife, Suzanne, as well as Gamal Mubarak and his brother, Alaa, a businessman. The cable, from the American ambassador in Cairo, Francis J. Ricciardone, noted that the accusations were unproven but called the report evidence of growing public anger.”
The Times noted in another dispatch that the cables also offered “a less flattering picture” of Suzanne, “(H)owever effusive the Americans were about Mr. Mubarak in public.”
“During a visit to the Sinai, one reported, she commandeered a bus that had been bought with money from the United States Agency for International Development and that had been meant to carry children to school.”
On the lighter side, The Huffington Post commented on Suzanne Mubarak’s commonsense fashion sense to deal with Egypt’s hot climes: “Whether she wears her light-colored skirt and blazer with a chunky necklace, a dark camisole, a thin scarf or dark sunglasses, Suzanne has a stellar summer style strategy: she keeps her clothing simple and selects accessories that speak for themselves.”
The report also highlighted her “signature bouffant hairdo,” her use of “pearls and lace detail keep things chic” and included photos of her with former First Lady Laura Bush, who goes “matchy-matchy” in her outfit with Mubarak.
Egyptian-American teen joins protests
Yuka Tachibana / NBC News
Hala Mohamed, left, and Reem, her 13-year-old Egyptian-American daughter, in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday.
By Yuka Tachibana, NBC News Producer
CAIRO – It’s Day 18 at Tahrir Square and hundreds of thousands of protesters have gathered here again. Among them is Reem Mohamed, a 13-year-old Egyptian-American from northern Virginia who arrived here this week to join the protests against the government of Hosni Mubarak.Reem said she and her mother had been watching events unfold in northern Virginia and they felt compelled to come participate in the demonstrations. “We really wanted to leave on Tuesday, but we could only get here yesterday,” said Reem. “Once we arrived in Cairo, we dropped our bags off and immediately rushed to Tahrir Square. We haven’t even visited our family yet.”
Her mom, Hala, said she came because she believes Egyptians deserve the same freedoms of speech as people in the U.S. “I was inspired by the U.S. presidential elections,” said Hala. “I say to my fellow protesters here: ‘Yes we can!’”
Hala said she felt compelled to fly to Egypt and wasn’t worried about bringing her young daughter into a potentially violent and volatile situation in the square. But since she is a working mother and her daughter has school, she admitted they can’t stay forever.
Ben Curtis / AP
Anti-government protesters, and Egyptian soldiers on top of their vehicles, take time for traditional Muslim Friday prayers during continuing demonstration in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt Friday. Click photo for a slideshow of photos.
The square on Friday was quite a jovial atmosphere – similar to how it has been all week. There were families with children, people taking group photos, even taking pictures with smiling soldiers.
Last night, after President Hosni Mubarak’s speech in which he announced that he was not stepping down, there was a lot of anger among the people gathered in the square. They were dumbstruck and irate. But nerves seem to have calmed overnight. There are soldiers and army tanks in the square, but no one is trying to provoke them. The soldiers are just standing by and the public seems to be happily tolerating them.
“We will keep protesting, until the dictator is out,” Reem said. Her voice echoed by hundreds of protesters shouting, “Leave, leave, leave!”
'I have come here to see the new birth of Egypt'
By Yuka Tachibana, NBC News Producer
CAIRO – Among the thousands of protesters who were back at Tahrir Square Wednesday morning was electrical engineer Mohammad Hassan, walking hand in hand with his two children.
Hassan said he had never taken part in any kind of political protest until he saw what was happening in Tahrir Square. Wednesday was his third visit.
Yuka Tachibana / NBC News
The Hassan family, Mariyam, Mohammad, and Hassan Ahmad, visit Tahrir Square on Wednesday.
Despite last week’s violence, he said the square was now safe enough to come with his children.
Like his fellow protesters, Hassan said he was fed up with the corruption and injustice. “We must create a new Egypt for our children,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, his daughter Mariyam, 11, recited a poem mourning those who lost their lives during the violence at the square last week.
And his son, Hassan Ahmad, 13, pulled out a handwritten message in English which he read to me: “Egypt is the most beautiful nation in the world with the best people in the world … I have come here to see the new birth of Egypt and I want for my country, for our future, to be best by freedom, develop and democracy.” (See a short video of his speech above).
Despite the hundreds of thousands of people who have traipsed through this square over the last 16 days of protests and the hundreds who stay through the night in their makeshift tents, there is order in the square.
Yuka Tachibana / NBC News
Mariyam Hassan, 11, visits Cairo's Tahrir Square with her father and brother on Wednesday.
Garbage is collected regularly – trash bins are marked for organic and non-organic waste – and street cleaners have been sweeping the square. There are first aid centers where protesters can have their cuts and bruises looked after and there is even a well-organized lost-and-found center.
The atmosphere is jovial. Like the Hassan family, there were hundreds of other families with young children, some joining in the chants and marches, others simply strolling through the square.
Hassan said he and the kids were going to listen to the speeches.
But they were also going to stay and have lunch at the square – there are certainly plenty of food stalls to choose from – and simply enjoy the day.