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Peaceful Protests Supporting the Egyptian People Occurring Globally; Israel Worried About Egyptian Protests Effects on Current Peace Agreements, Process; Examining the Egyptian Ripple Effect on the Entire Middle East Region; Social Media Continues to be Current Tool of Communication Throughout Egypt

Aired January 29, 2011 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. And now with my colleague John Vause, thank you for joining us from CNN international.

Of course we are simulcasting now, so the world is watching CNN. Our focus today, clearly this increasingly volatile situation in Egypt and the changes that we're seeing in that government already.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, a lot of changes going on. We're going to try to work out exactly what happened, what is going to happen, and analyze the situation and try and figure out possibly the most important thing here, what happens next.

WHITFIELD: Exactly. We have correspondents on the ground in Cairo and Alexandria and all across the globe for that matter. We're monitoring reactions from key cities including Jerusalem, London, New York, and Washington where there are already some solidarity protests, demonstrations taking place across the U.S.

VAUSE: In Atlanta, we passed one on the way to work this morning, small group here, but as you say across the United States and around the world. There have also been protests, peaceful ones too in Alexandria that started out peaceful but did in fact take a deadly turn.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's now half an hour since the curfew began. This is one of the army trucks here ostensibly enforcing the curfew. Everyone is on the streets. On the side of the truck, "Mubarak go, it's dead."

Painted on the truck of the army here. You were telling me you are a former general, ex-general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ex-general, yes.

ROBERTSON: So you think that the army is out here to protect the president, not the people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's the plan. It was plan to protect him.

ROBERTSON: Thank you very much, indeed. It's very nice talking to you. You have the handshake like a general, very strong. Thank you.

Well, that's just another opinion that we're hearing on the streets here. People have been very friendly with the army so far, but clearly there's a train of thought that feels that the army at the moment is really protecting the president and his interests rather than theirs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just one second, sir. Egypt is free people. We are not to be sold for the spoil, the businessmen from the president and his staff and his friends. They are all spoiled people. They stole our lands. They stole our jobs. They stole our future.

ROBERTSON: Thank you very much, sir. Everyone here -- everyone here wants to speak to us. Everyone -- sorry. Everyone has an opinion. And as you can see, some people would like to push to get their voices out, to get themselves on camera. But despite that, it is quite relaxed and it is quite friendly. But it's probably a good time to move on.

And it's almost getting to be nightfall here in Alexandria here. The people very clear in what they're saying. They want President Mubarak to go. They say got the honor and dignity to leave and say "If you want to leave go to Saudi Arabia, it's waiting for you." This is the message that they keep on saying.

(SHOUTING)

I'm making a report right now. Yes. We're making a video record right now. What do you want to say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to say that the administration said I will stay. Three times he said I will stay.

ROBERTSON: So you think he's going to stay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's challenging us and we're challenging him. We cannot have a curfew. We will stay here.

ROBERTSON: Thank you.

So you're hearing it from the streets right here. He's challenged the people by saying he'll stay and this man is telling me --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wants to calm us down.

ROBERTSON: He wants to calm you down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By saying that he will stay. ROBERTSON: By saying he will stay. That's not calming you down. That's what we're seeing here.

(SHOUTING)

The people are angry and they're saying right now that he must go. The chant continues to be the same. "We want him out. We want him gone. Mubarak has to go." That's the message that comes up. The electronic part of the revolution goes on.

Everyone here almost is carrying their cell phones filming what's going on propagating that message around the country. The voices here in Alexandria are just getting louder and louder. There are people here now like this gentleman who are helping control the crowds but the message now getting louder and perhaps a little more controlled.

(SHOUTING)

Nic Robertson, CNN, Alexandria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, that scene right there in Alexandria, Egypt, that northern Egyptian city. So Egypt overall now, they have signed a peace agreement with Israel. That was three decades ago. And Egypt remains an important ally. Let's talk about the broader spectrum here of the ripple effect from what is transpiring there in Egypt.

Joining us from Jerusalem is CNN Bureau Chief Kevin Flower. So is there a reaction coming from the Israeli government about two appointments in this new government that Hosni Mubarak promises to begin?

KEVIN FLOWER, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Fredricka, there is no reaction whatsoever from Israel. And this government of Benjamin Netanyahu is watching events very close, but they are refraining from all comment at this point in time, waiting to see how things develop.

But what we did hear tonight on Israeli television is a comment from a Knesset member, a former cabinet member. His name is Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. He is a man who has been in politics for a long time and known to have very close relations with the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. And he told Israeli television tonight that he spoke to the Egyptian president just recently and that the Egyptian president told him, quote, "This is no Beirut, this is no Tunis," which was sort of an interesting comment coming from the Egyptian president.

Ben-Eliezer also said he believes this is a new era in the Middle East and did not necessarily believe that Hosni Mubarak would be overthrown. It was probably too early to say that at this point. But definitely he was identifying a completely new playing field here in the Middle East, and that's what the Israeli government right now is watching so closely.

They don't know what's going to happen and they are just keeping their ears to the ground at this point, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Kevin, the flipside of that is the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas did reach out to President Hosni Mubarak. And what was said?

FLOWER: Well, that's right. The Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas made a phone call this morning to Hosni Mubarak. And this is what he said. He said he affirmed his solidarity with Egypt and his commitment to its security and stability, a fairly innocuous statement but an important phone call just the same.

Egypt is a very important ally of the Palestinian Authority, has been supportive of its various moves, of its position to pursue negotiations in the past with Israel. The Palestinian Authority is watching very closely, just as the ruling Hamas and the Gaza Strip is also watching this closely, what's developing on the ground.

This has the potential of being a regional earthquake in terms of its impact on Israel and the Palestinian territories here. So everyone is holding their breath, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, now, Hosni Mubarak's vice president that he just appointed and sworn into office today, Omar Suleiman, now, Omar Suleiman had interaction with Israel in the past and they're very familiar with him. Might government leaders feel somewhat comforted or do they feel that much more nervous that he would be the vice president?

FLOWER: That's a good question. And no one is really answering that tonight. I think Israeli leaders, like you said, they're familiar with Omar Suleiman. He's someone they dealt with on lots of important issues -- security issues, shared security concerns that Israel has with Egypt. So in that sense, yes, they would certainly be happy to deal with a man like him going forward.

But they don't know that they're going to be dealing with that man going forward. Things are so uncertain in Egypt right now and the Israeli government knows that. They know that this is not necessarily the government that's going to be there in a week. They have no idea how this is going to play out.

So his appointment probably doesn't mean a whole lot compared to the bigger sort of picture of instability they're seeing right now.

WHITFIELD: Kevin Flower in Jerusalem. Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Yes, not a lot of reaction around the world, but there is plenty of reaction around the world. Take a look at these demonstrations in Lebanon outside the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. Crowds have gathered and some have held up banners, have depictions of Hosni Mubarak wearing symbols from the United States as well as the Israeli flags.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING) (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Similar scenes in London where about 300 protesters assembled outside the Egyptian embassy there. They chanted slogans, held up banners, and they voiced their support for the demonstrations in Egypt.

Egyptian-Americans and others are rallying in the U.S. Sandra Endo is in Washington where there is a call for support as posted on Facebook. Sandra?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Moments ago actually I can tell you that the crowd just dispersed from the embassy here in Washington. And they were chanting, carrying signs for several hours, really rallying in support and solidarity for the uprising in Egypt. And their message was the same. They want the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. And they are hopeful, though, that change is going to happen real soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it's like the light at the end of the tunnel. It's something we've always wanted, we've always been hoping for. So it can't come soon enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: Now, the crowd here is making their way to the White House, where their message for President Obama and the White House is to take a tougher stand on Mubarak. President Obama has said, though, that he stands in support of the Egyptian people. He is calling on Mubarak to make good on his promise for reform.

So another rally underway, and as you mentioned, this is all facilitated by Facebook, a lot of grassroots organizations, people in the community coming out together to show their support. Back to you.

VAUSE: Sandra Endo live in Washington. We go now to the capital of Egypt, Ben Wedeman some breaking news there about the cabinet and new vice president. Ben, what have you got?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is information I got from someone very close to the inner circles of the ruling National Democratic Party --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, some technical problems with Ben. We'll try to get back to him as soon as we can. He has news there about the new vice president Mr. Suleiman who was recently sworn in by president Hosni Mubarak.

So as Egypt erupts in anger, it's been just a few days since we watched the same thing in Tunisia. The question now asked dominoes, are they following throughout the Arab states? That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Well, Egypt is one of the most important countries in the Middle East. More than 80 million people live there, making Egypt the world's 16th most populous country. The population is 90 percent Muslim and nine percent Coptic Christian. One percent of Egyptians are members of other Christian churches.

The median age is 24, which means most Egyptians weren't even born when Hosni Mubarak became president in 1981. Even though Egypt is an ancient civilization, it was under foreign control for much of its history, and it didn't become an independent republic until 1953.

According to the U.N. figures, Egypt's per capita income is just $1,800 a year. Egypt's official 2010 unemployment rate was 9.7 percent, but analysts think the true unemployment rate is a lot higher than that.

WHITFIELD: So Egyptian-Americans and others are protesting outside the United Nations today, and that's where we're going to find our Susan Candiotti where earlier it looked like a pretty significant turnout. What's happening now?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is. And the crowd has been growing a little bit. More than 400 people are here today, and at this hour listening to all kinds of cries to -- that Mubarak should leave, that they -- no more U.S. money for what they call the bloody Mubarak dictatorship. Among the people here is this young woman Roba who has a number of relatives in Cairo. You're hear from Boston and work at Harvard University.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: Tell me what your relatives are saying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My sister and brother-in-law just called. They say government -- the government is telling people that they're not going to protect them. I think they're just trying to punish them. They're telling people to defend themselves. The army is everywhere, but the army is not doing anything.

My brother-in-law left his wife, my sister and two babies and him and his neighbors. All the men are out protecting their neighborhood. They live in one of the suburbs next to the pyramid city view, so one of the wealthy places. They have kitchen knives and golf clubs and whatever they can find to protect themselves.

CANDIOTTI: You must be terribly worried about them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm terribly worried because I do not know what country does that to punish its people. How is this fair? We -- my sister told me so many things. She said "Tell the American media and international media as much stuff as you can." She said the museum is being looted, statues are being broken. She said the children's hospitals are being looted. She said people are everywhere. My uncle was in his 50s called her crying, my aunt called her crying. My mom just landed in Dubai in Cairo airport and is stuck there. Of course I'm worried. I'm the only one in the U.S. I'm in a better position and I think the only thing I can do is to make sure that the world knows what's going on. The government is not protecting the people. This is not fair.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you very much for giving us a little bit of what's happening there through the eyes of your relatives. We appreciate it.

I wanted to talk to the organizer, Ahmed. You helped put this rally together. There have already been some changes there. You heard about President Mubarak signing some people the new vice president. Are these the kind of changes that are acceptable?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. This is nonsense. Mubarak is trying to buy time. This is not what the people have been calling for. The people are calling for Mubarak to leave, and when we mean Mubarak to leave, we want him to leave we want to end his regime. All the people that work with Mubarak are not suitable for the next stage.

The news I get from Cairo, that the opposition groups -- all the political parties, the independents and everybody is uniting now under the banner of Egyptian change.

As far as the Egyptian-American communities in northeast, we find that this might be a very suitable solution at a transitional time. But what Mubarak is suggesting is absolutely not acceptable, does not reach to the aspiration of the Egyptian people. It does not meet with the aspiration of the Egyptian Diaspora.

(SHOUTING)

CANDIOTTI: The violence that you're hearing about, is the military doing in your view what it should be doing? What about the reaction of the police?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Egyptian military is an honorable organization. What we had news confirmed reports that these have been elements released by the ministry of interior, the police force who are thugs, criminals. They were released deliberately and given strict orders to go and loot and start fires.

Some of the demonstrators actually caught some of the looters and found on them that they had membership cards in the MDP. This is a very serious turn in this situation. However, it was expected and it shows another clear example how the Mubarak regime is dealing with the uprising of the people. Mubarak does not respect the will of the people. The entire world listened and understood the message. The only person in the universe that did not understand the message was President Mubarak himself.

CANDIOTTI: Are you satisfied with the reaction so far of the U.S. administration and President Obama, what he had to say last night? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night I was satisfied. The first couple of days it was not -- it was disappointing for the Egyptian-American community. But since yesterday we see a shift in the position of the U.S. administration.

We hope for a more formal position. We want President Obama and the people of the governments of the free world to interfere to restore the Internet service in Egypt, to allow international calling. We have here hundreds, maybe thousands of people in the tri-state area, the Egyptian-American community who cannot get in touch with their families and loved ones in Egypt. We need to have contact. The Internet should be restored in Egypt.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you very much. The rally should of course be going on another hour or so. As we said, more than 400 people so far. You can see the large turnout. You have people here of all ages. You have children holding signs. You have women. You have men of all different ages and they say that they are here to show support for those who are fighting the battle in Egypt.

Needless to say, it's hard to predict how this will all turn out. At this point, no one here knows. Back to you in the studio.

WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Candiotti, thank you so much in New York, solidarity protests.

VAUSE: It's going to be difficult to sit here in the United States or somewhere maybe in Lebanon or Britain and actually watch those scenes unfolding because people in Egypt don't know what's going to happen next, and of course there's a great deal of uncertainty. We had reports from Fred and Ivan and Ben saying there's looting on the streets. People are taking the law into their own hands. These are very scary times. The next few hours will be difficult.

WHITFIELD: Particularly for those with loved ones in Egypt like the young lady we heard from nearly on the verge of tears there worried about her family back at home.

VAUSE: It's got to be tough.

WHITFIELD: Well, this protest and this unrest and whatever you want to stay it was galvanized by social media. Facebook, Twitter, text messaging. All of it played a major role in what you're seeing right here. That story is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a problem in Egypt. It's OK. No work here. No eat. No independence. That's OK. People very tired for that. We need change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mubarak, he is a -- we need peace. I wanted to send -- I wanted to send a message to America. Please don't help Mubarak, because Mubarak, he will go. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hate Mubarak. We hate his current system. Do you think while his fire is still going right now? Because we don't like to make it -- we don't like him. All Egyptian -- we don't like this way. We hate him, OK. And anyhow, he will quit. He should quit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, just some of the sentiments of the people on the streets there that a number of our reporters and cameras have encountered there in Cairo.

So let's get more now on a first for the Egyptian government, a first in three decades. As of today President Hosni Mubarak has his first ever deputy. Omar Suleiman has been appointed vice president. Until today he has been serving as the country's intelligence chief for nearly 20 years, and before that Vice President Suleiman was Egypt's military intelligence chief.

And in 1995, he advised President Mubarak to take an armored car during a visit to Ethiopia where Mr. Mubarak survived that assassination attempt that killed the car's driver. John?

VAUSE: We're going to try to go back to Ben Wedeman. Ben has new information out of Cairo about the cabinet which Mubarak fired earlier. He's swearing in a new one. As Fred mentioned, there's a new vice president and a new prime minister. Ben, what else can you tell us?

WEDEMAN: What I can tell you is I spoke to somebody very close to the thinking within the inner circles of the National Democratic Party, the ruling party. And he explained the decision to appoint Omar Suleiman, the intelligence chief, as vice president may well be as a preparatory step for a transition of power, for the resignation of President Mubarak, and to ensure that there is somebody in control, that there's a system of transition of power from Mubarak to his vice president in the event -- and this is very possible -- that the president does in one form or another step down from power.

This is coming from somebody very close, as I said, to the thinking within the inner circles of the rule party. John?

VAUSE: So let's back up here, because this is very important, because Hosni Mubarak drew a lot of criticism about five years ago when he essentially said he was going to be president for life. We've had the protests and the appointment of a vice president, and that now you're saying that there could be some process put in place that Hosni Mubarak could step down and hand over to Mr. Suleiman, who has been described as a safe pair of hands.

The question on all of this would be timing. Is there any idea when or if or how long this process would take?

WEDEMAN: Well, there's no idea about that. I didn't get it from this source exactly how long it would take. But it appears that the ruling party is basically collapsing. Now, I did get a denial from another sort that Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Mubarak, has resigned his position within the National Democratic Party. But somebody who did resign, Ahmad Azar (ph), a very powerful person in the party representing the business interest, sort of business elite of Egyptian society, he has resigned.

You just need to look down the road, John. The headquarters of that ruling party is charred. It was burned down last night. It is still smoldering.

If you go through the streets of Cairo, what is apparent is that there is really no going back. That basically, the people have made it clear. One of the demonstrators I talked to today said, we have fired President Mubarak, so it's time for him to move on.

The army is controlling the streets, but the army is very popular. It's backed by the demonstrators. There's very little in terms of real power that the president still has.

The army is sort of controlling the street. Politically, there's a complete vacuum. And the feeling, according to this source, is that what's needed is some sort of transitional figure so that President Mubarak can step down and some sort of mechanism be created.

According to the constitution, the Egyptian constitution, the speaker of parliament takes over for six weeks and then that would be followed by presidential elections. We haven't gotten to that. But clearly within the ruling elite, they are thinking of a mechanism to transfer power from President Mubarak. John?

VAUSE: And that in itself is a significant development, Ben. But you have being on the streets for the last couple of days, ever since this started about five days ago.

So the question has to be asked, would this be enough for the protesters still out on the streets of Cairo and other cities right now, because it wasn't enough for the people in Tunisia, another country that suffered a similar upheaval and forced their president to leave. There ever been ongoing protests there despite the interim government taking over.

So the question is, should this transfer of power take place, should Suleiman take over in an interim role, would that be enough to calm the situation?

WEDEMAN: Well, it's a situation analogous to what's going on in Tunisia. Omar Suleiman who for years was the right-hand man of the president, the intelligence chief, who has a similar career path as Mubarak, they're all Mubarak's men. So if the president steps down or resigns, then it's still essentially a leadership of the country that's very much associated with the president.

And what I saw in Tunisia vividly was that even though there was great relief that the Tunisian President Ben Ali left power, there is still a strong sentiment that they want a complete cleansing of the state apparatus of all people from the old regime. But as we've seen in Tunisia, they did make modifications, the prime minister made modifications that were acceptable to some of the trade unions there. But the problem is that this protest movement here is even more amorphous than the one in Tunisia. You really -- it doesn't seem to have any clear leadership at all.

So it's really going to be decided by the street. And even though the street is quiet right now, what we saw today is that Egyptians are really feeling their power, the power of their ability to go out into the streets and shake this state to its foundations. John?

VAUSE: Power they've never had in 30 years. Ben Wedeman live for us there in Cairo with very good informing. Thank you, Ben.

WHITFIELD: Of course we've been talking about one of the components that helped galvanize this movement was the use of social media.

VAUSE: What's interesting is what they've been saying is unlike Iran where the government was really up on social media, Twitter, Facebook, and very good at closing it down, the Egyptian government has been a couple of steps behind. That's why the Twitter and the Facebook and all the messages managed to get out there and sort of really gave a leader to the leaderless movement.

WHITFIELD: Iran really was the precedent of how powerful social media can become, and now we'll see if there are lessons learned as it plays out in Egypt.

So Josh Levs is going to break this down for us, the role of social media. I guess the pluses and minuses for those actively engaging.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are. I'm glad you brought up Iran. It's important to understand that as a context for what governments learned in cases like this.

We're getting great coverage from folks on the ground, incremental steps of what's going on. What I want to do right now is pull us out a little bit, take a look at the world because what we are seeing in these protests and have been seeing is that technology changes everything. And technology is changing what it is to revolt in this era.

Take a look at what's been happening now. You do know as they were mentioning back in 2009 when there were protests in Iran, the government tried to shut down -- basically, there was a blackout. But some things still got out. Those little trickles of information that got out made a different in how the world understood Iran.

In this case Egypt is very different in all sorts of ways. Governments recognized what was happening there. In the middle of a revolt, little bits of information getting out. I want to show you a chart behind me right now. Let's zoom way in. This is Internet activity in Egypt, right. Look at what happened. In general it's like this. Then all of a sudden on January 25th, boom, it's gone all the way down to here. I think you need to move the camera down. See that tiny line? That's all the Internet activity suddenly going on in Egypt.

The government has not said they're responsible for it, but obviously a lot of people believe it was government involvement making that happen.

Now, I want you to understand there were two things that happened when technology is challenged in the middle of what protesters want to be a revolution. You have two things going on. One, you have the idea of how much will the world find out. That is where you discover what was learned in Iran and discovered here, that even if some of the tools are shut down so large numbers cannot get on Twitter and Facebook. The little bit that still gets out -- there will always be a little bit that gets out, and it will amplified by people all over the world using the same technology.

This tells us in this era government cannot prevent things like that getting out because a little bit will always get out to the world.

Now, here's the other thing that happens that gets less attention. That is inside Egypt when you have a technology shutdown, what do people not there know what's going on? What do people in the rest of the people in the country know is going on in the capital?

That is why it's very significant what happens in -- in terms of cell phones and also what happens in terms of texting because a lot of people are getting information that way, cell phone and texting. Cell phones seem to be working again today.

The analysts on the ground tell us inside Egypt large numbers of people get their information by text and cell phone. They're not really in many parts of Egypt doing Facebook and tweeting.

Let me end on this. I'm perched at my big screen again now. Those of you out there who are following tweets from inside Egypt that have a lot of information you want to share, I'm on Facebook and Twitter, Josh Levs, CNN. Forward them to me. We'll show you some of the most important tweets and Facebook posts throughout this afternoon and evening. Keeping a close eye on the role of technology in what happens each day for what's going on in Egypt.

WHITFIELD: Thank you, Josh. It is colossal. And this really is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the power of social media and the activism that people are willing to engage.

VAUSE: One point about Egypt is it has a 92 percent cell phone usage, which is incredibly high. And you can also use Twitter on your cell phone.

WHITFIELD: Yes, which explains the texting that josh was talking about. VAUSE: And they have a 77 percent literacy rate, because you need to be able to read and use a cell phone to get it. So a high concentration in Egypt.

WHITFIELD: Much more straight ahead on the protesting in Egypt as well as the solidarity protests taking place around the globe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: As we continue to watch the unrest in Egypt, here are some new images that are coming in from the activity in Alexandria today, the northern city there in Egypt where we heard from a number of correspondents about the tone and how Alexandria has taken on the same kind of verve and the protest in Cairo.

Our Ivan Watson is actually in Cairo. We're going to check in with him as well and get the idea of the kind of sentiment. Get out Mubarak you saw in the sign.

You see a number of people have come out of all walks of life right there in Cairo where you are, Ivan. Those images just now show that we saw the young and the old hand in hand walking in the streets in the form of thousands it appears. That was earlier today in Alexandria. Can you kind of paint a picture for us? Today in Cairo, what was it like?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's really important to take note, Fredricka, how swiftly events have moved even just over the past 24 hour. In the streets behind me, you had pitch battles still going on at this time last night. And now there is no sign of the police, who were battling the demonstrators so fiercely yesterday.

The demonstrators have complete free rein in the streets, moving around as we speak in spite of a curfew that was imposed by the Egyptian president. Take a listen to what one demonstrator had to say to me today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As if that would change anything. We don't want him. He should go out. We don't want him here, because he's responsible about all this here. The people -- I live here. I fed up. I feel everything is difficult for me. 43 years is -- it's easy life. Here one year it's difficult for us.

WATSON: Are you happy today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am happy because everybody -- there is men here. Before I thought there was no men in Egypt. Now I see all this, I feel, yes, we can change. We don't want Hosni Mubarak. We don't want him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: A bit of a sentiment from one woman amid the thousands gathered in the streets. There were scenes of ecstatic jubilation. But then there were also some very disturbing scenes of violence. There have been clashes going on just a few blocks away from where some of the celebrations were taking place.

We saw one after another young men being brought in to a makeshift first aid clinic on the doorstep of a mosque. And they were coming in with what appeared to be some kind of plastic bullet wounds or rubber pellet wounds. I saw about four men -- one with puncture wounds in his stomach, another with a number of different -- almost a grape shot in his hand and in his legs.

And they were being shot, they said, while trying to advance on the interior ministry, which is a building behind me. That's where the police and some of the security services would have been commanded from. Those personnel a real symbol of hatred, especially for the demonstrators that have been out in the street.

And at one point we even saw the body of a man bystanders said had been killed while trying to advance on the interior ministry. He was taken through the streets, his body wrapped in an Egyptian flag. We saw one of his friends mourning just by the side of the road as that body was taken through. Take a listen to what this man had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone killed him. Mubarak -- Mubarak -- (INAUDIBLE)

WATSON: What happened there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the square --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Fredricka, these, again, some of the scenes we've been seeing here, dramatic scenes in the streets of Cairo where people lashing out at a regime that they say has oppressed them for decades and reveling in the freedom that they're suddenly getting to be able to criticize their own president and government.

WHITFIELD: Ivan Watson, thanks so much for the new images and information out of Cairo.

VAUSE: Fred Pleitgen also has been out on the streets. What we've been seeing is what been happening downtown. But there are suburbs which is where Fred has been out with a night scope and filed this report of what's actually been happening outside of the city center.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While there's a lot of security presence and the army in the downtown area of Cairo, if you get out of the downtown area, large parts of the city are basically without any security forces. So we've seen a lot of people banding together to protect their property and homes and families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no army, no one to prevent this.

PLEITGEN: What happened to the police?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They disappeared.

PLEITGEN: How long are you going to stay out here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as the army come -- as long as we can.

PLEITGEN: And are you guys sort of all friends? Are you one family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have my cousin that live with me. I have my neighbors. We have our friends, neighbors down there. We're all making like one community to prevent the whole street, the whole area.

PLEITGEN: To prevent people from coming in here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I Exactly.

PLEITGEN: And you're getting no help at this point from the police?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all. Nothing.

PLEITGEN: The people tell us guys like this where -- guys on the motorcycles are doing the looting. We have seen some pass by carrying real samurai swords pass when they pass the people from the community watch. They threaten them and say don't stop here. It's clearly a very, very difficult situation with a lot of uncertainty for the people in the Egyptian capital.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Cairo.

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WHITFIELD: So that's taking place in the suburbs. There is great concern particularly as it pertains to the U.S. interest, all that transpire there in Egypt. How does that influence, jeopardize U.S. national security concerns?

VAUSE: Two key issues when it comes to Egypt -- Egypt's relationship with Israel and of course the Suez Canal, which is a main point for international trade and commerce. Any disruption could have a knock-on effect to the world economy.

WHITFIELD: We'll talk with one of our producer who works at the State Department and will join us about this very conversation and what the greatest concerns might be out of the State Department.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield along with my colleague from CNN International John Vause.

There is a key questions -- a lot of questions. One in particular for Middle East watchers will be the open defines and the public clashes that we've been watching in Egypt. What kind of ripple effect might it have on the entire region?

VAUSE: It started in Tunisia. Protests in other countries like Yemen and disruptions in Jordan, all of this a major concern for the Obama administration. So let's go to our state department producer Elise Labott. She's standing by at the state department with more on this. Just explain to us how important is Egypt to the region and to the U.S.?

ELISE LABOTT: Well, it's very important to both, John. It's really the kind of bellwether, the real center of the Arab world. A lot of Arabs identify with Egypt for their culture, for their religion and politics.

So there's an indication here -- everyone seems to think if Mubarak were to fall, if Egypt were to descend into chaos, then you might see a domino effect throughout the whole region. This is what is very concerning to the U.S. because it's one thing for President Ben Ali to fall in Tunisia.

But if Mubarak were to go, there's a real uncertainty now about who comes next. As we've talked about all day the opposition isn't really organized. There isn't one rallying figure you can rally around. So the uncertainty for U.S. policy in the region, Egypt a real critical ally, is really what's scaring U.S. officials.

Then if you look around the region, to Yemen, for example, if the government of President Saleh were to fall -- we've talked many weeks about Al Qaeda in the Arab peninsula having a strong hold in Yemen, this is really concerning for the United States right now. Looking at Egypt really hoping that there is no ripple effect, if you will.

WHITFIELD: So what might be taking place right now, Elise, if the State Department or the White House is starting to recognize that with this new positioning of the upper echelon of government by way of the appointments of ElBaradei, will the state department try to continue to reach out to this administration, the Egyptian -- Mubarak administration. Or will it be hands off and allow the White House to give the directive if there will be another conversation between president Obama and Mohamed -- as well as the Egyptian president, Mubarak?

LABOTT: There are conversations, Fred, going over all across levels of the government. The U.S. ambassador Margaret Scobie is talking to the embassy and embassy here, really across the administration.

If President Obama were to have another call with President Mubarak, that would be something significant. Right now he made his statement. I think the administration really wants to see President Mubarak institute some reforms. As we've heard, the administration really doesn't think it's good enough. They want President Mubarak to not just reshuffle the deck and the cabinet but want to see a meaningful national dialogue. They want to see job creation.

So I think that's the message right now continuing to talk about human rights, focusing on the rights, the crackdown and changes they want to see while still giving room to the government to make need reforms and put action into the president's words.

WHITFIELD: CNN producer Elise Labott, thanks so much, appreciate that.

Meantime, these protests tumbled Tunisia's hard-line government, and now mass unrest in Egypt as you see unfolding here. Is Yemen next? Are we already seeing the prelude of Yemen taking a similar turn? Much more on that straight ahead.

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VAUSE: We're now hearing from Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah for the first time today. He's condemning the growing protest in Egypt. King Abdullah reached out to the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak by phone and told him, quote, "No Arab and Muslim human being can bear that some infiltrators in the name of freedom of expression have infiltrated into the brotherly people of Egypt to destabilize its security and stability."

WHITFIELD: From Tehran, an entirely different view. Iran's foreign ministry is urging Egyptian leaders to yield to protesters' demands.

The ministry spokesman says this, quote, "Iran expects Egyptian officials to listen to the voice of their Muslim people, respond to their rightful demands, and refrain from exerting violence by security forces and police against an Islamic wave of awareness that has spread through the country in the form of a popular movement," end quote.

VAUSE: Wow, very different responses there from two very different countries.

WHITFIELD: A major contrast. I don't know if that's the one most expected.

VAUSE: Yes, exactly.

Well, for the first time Egypt's embattled president Hosni Mubarak has appointed a vice president.

WHITFIELD: And in response to the protests engulfing his country that has taken place, but is it a sign of real change? We'll take a closer look.

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