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Uprising in Egypt
Aired January 29, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
Thank you so much for joining us. The clock may be taking for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Listen to Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy agency who was now back in Egypt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, EGYPTIAN OPPOSITION LEADER (via telephone): I will continue to participate in whatever it takes to make sure that the Mubarak regime should leave. I think that -- there's a consensus here in Egypt, in every part of society that this is a regime that is dictatorial, that has fail to deliver on economic, social or political front and that we need a new beginning and Egypt that is free and that is democratic and we need to go through a transitional period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That was him speaking to Reuters tonight. It is now early Sunday morning in Egypt. When the sun comes up, we may see more scenes just like this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Tens of thousands of Egyptians on Saturday ended a fifth day of protesting defiance, ignoring a curfew imposed by the government. Dozens of people have died in violent clashes with riot police over the past week. Countless others were hurt. But then suddenly the riot police disappeared replaced by military troops and tanks and armored vehicles. So far the military and civilians have avoided clashing with each other but now the anti-Mubarak groundswell has spread to cities around the world.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN is getting video and iReports from around the world. This rally took place in downtown Montreal. Demonstrators in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and many other places also turned out to show support for the uprising in Egypt. We'll hear from them throughout this hour.
Social order and security have collapsed in Egypt's largest cities. Police stations have been raided for their weapons. Looting has become pervasive. Ordinary Egyptians are aiming themselves or arming themselves with clubs and knives for protection.
There are also reports tonight of a massive prison break outside of Cairo with about 1,000 inmates now on the loose. We'll report on that.
And Hosni Mubarak is still president of Egypt now, but CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman who lives in Cairo says many Egyptians believe Mubarak's departure from office is imminent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's chaos in the streets of Cairo. A battle between the population and revolt and the remnants of a crumbling regime. The army caught in the middle extensively restoring order on behalf of the Mubarak regime, but emerging as a rallying point for a movement without leaders. A movement with a single, insistent demand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out. What the heck do you want? Our bodies our dead bodies?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they go to hell. Mubarak must go to hell. We need another one. Mubarak destroys our country. Thirty years he destroys our country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen to the people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want him.
WEDEMAN: For all intents and purposes, Hosni Mubarak is president in name only. His impending fall now taken as a given. The imminent birth of a new post-Mubarak Egypt cause for celebration to so many.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the start of the rest of my life with a new, happy life. As cheesy as it sounds that's exactly how I feel right now.
WEDEMAN: But it's a birth that's proving painful. The body of a young man killed in clashes with interior ministry forces is carried through to Tahrir Square. Doctors in a makeshift hospital set up in a small mosque treat the wounded from the clashes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), and we have to because we'll die.
WEDEMAN: In the middle class district of Mohandessin, residents have set up ad hoc patrols with the hated police nowhere to be found, residents are taking security into their own hands on the lookout for looters who have plunders countless stores, businesses and homes.
(on camera) The army now concentrated in the city center is beginning to deploy in outlying areas filling a power vacuum and potentially a political vacuum as the Mubarak regime crumbles. Bed Wedeman, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Ben.
CNN is spending a lot of time covering this crisis because it has profound implications for the United States, the Middle East and the rest of the world.
CNN's national security contributor Fran Townsend, a former Homeland Security adviser on the President Bush joins us now.
Fran, why is this such a big deal. Why should Americans care what happens to Hosni Mubarak?
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, what Americans need to care about is what happens to Egypt, frankly. Whether or not that means Mubarak is staying or leaving in power because Egypt has been a critical strategic partner in the Middle East.
That's especially true when it comes to Middle East peace process and negotiations involving Israel, the Palestinians and Syria. Egypt has played for decades now a role across five presidents, five administrations. We've provided billions of dollars in military aid and its paid dividends.
Now that doesn't mean you have partners with whom you don't agree on all issues, and so we have long had, the State Department each year, issues a human rights' report and the United States has been quick to point out the deficiencies in terms of the human rights' record in Egypt. But what worries officials now is, assuming Mubarak goes, what will follow? Will it be a government that is willing to continue to be a strategic partner and ally of the United States? Or will it be an anti-Islamist -- a Muslim brotherhood type of government?
And I think those are the sorts of things that concern the United States. But first and foremost, you know, the president has said he's asked for the security and safety of the protesters. Responsible return to freedoms like the Internet and social networking. And in the end, this is the will of the Egyptian people that must be heard and followed.
LEMON: So, Fran, you mentioned the human rights' violations. So what's in it for America? What was in it for America that allowed our government and all of the administrations before the Obama administration, including the Obama administration, to go along with Hosni Mubarak when he was having those human rights' violations?
TOWNSEND: You can pick almost any country around the world, especially in that region and find issues on which we have grave disagreements. Whether it's a lack of democratic freedoms, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, most of the countries in that region don't provide those and don't insure and protect those sorts of freedoms. But we're allies whether it's because we have a military partnership, because of the geopolitics, because of their help to the -- and aid to the United States and the world --
LEMON: So it's about stability? Keeping stability in the region was a big part of it?
TOWNSEND: Absolutely. Absolutely, Don.
LEMON: OK. Fran Townsend, thank you, we really appreciate you joining us this evening.
TOWNSEND: Your welcome.
LEMON: An American couple started on vacation and ended up in the midst of a political revolt.
Leah and Neal Dunn were in Egypt on holiday for the last couple of weeks and could not get out of the country yesterday because of the government-imposed curfew. Well, they just arrived in New York just this evening and explained when they first sensed there was going to be trouble in the country.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEAL DUNN, AMERICAN TOURIST IN EGYPT: The people talking, everywhere you went the Arabs were talking to each other and then they would share with us. They'd turn and talk politics with us. And they were generally very friendly to the Americans. But then they're recruiting our support.
LEAH DUNN, AMERICAN TOURIST IN EGYPT: They were also, at that point, the Internet was still on and so they were organizing, we knew, a huge protest on Friday, which is when we were due to go out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the Dunns say they kept hearing from Egyptians who were inspired by how Tunisians overthrew their government. The couple says the experience has made them truly appreciate the freedoms that Americans have.
Egyptian-Americans watching the crisis in their homeland from thousands of miles away. Anxious and hopeful about what happens next, we talked to them over dinner last night and they're here and they're going to join us live in just a little bit and share more with us.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Protesters even gathered outside CNN's World Headquarters right here in Atlanta. I walked through the crowd and spoke to many of them to get their thoughts on what's happening in their homeland.
And I'm online and I know you are, too. Make sure you check out our social media sites. Let's connect.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want Mubarak to get out. Get out Mubarak. Get out of Egypt. We don't need you. We don't -- we don't want you here in Egypt. Get out!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No Mubarak! No Mubarak! No Mubarak!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: This is a moment of upheaval for the people of Egypt, but it's also a time of hope and anxiety for Egyptian-Americans who have to watch all of this unfold from thousands of miles away.
We met Tareq and Hana Hassan and also Moustafa Mokhemar while they were having dinner at Sultan's, a restaurant here in Atlanta last night and we talked about it tonight. This is what we're going to talk about on "What Matters."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANA HASSAN, EGYPTIAN-AMERICAN: My concern is the safety of the people there. The people - the young people especially.
MOUSTAFA MOKHEMAR, EGYPTIAN-AMERICAN: They won't stop. I don't think the bloodshed will be there.
LEMON (on camera): When you finally get through on a land line and you talk to your relatives, what's their state of mind like? What do they say about all this?
TAREQ HASSAN, EGYPTIAN AMERICAN: People are excited. You know, they feel that they are -
LEMON: Excited, not scared?
T. HASSAN: No - and scared.
H. HASSAN: Not scared.
LEMON: She says scared. Why do you say that?
H. HASSAN: Because they don't know what's going to happen.
LEMON: As you watch Mubarak's speech, what did you think?
H. HASSAN: It's enough. Let the people rule. Let the people choose who they want.
LEMON: And you said it was almost as if it's a joke for you?
T. HASSAN: It is a joke. It is a joke because he does not understand, I mean, he obviously either doesn't understand Arabic or he hasn't been watching TV because people are going out and saying "no" to Mubarak.
MOKHEMAR: And my assessment, he would be leaving the country very soon.
LEMON: You think it's over?
MOKHEMAR: Yes.
LEMON: What does this mean to me? Why am I interested in what's happening in Tunisia, in Cairo? What does it matter to me?
MOKHEMAR: You have to care because very similar reason. This region has control of oil and that's a big factor.
T. HASSAN: If you had 300 million-plus Arabs who are satisfied and living a decent life, then things like fundamentalism, people like Bin Laden espouse, will not take hold.
LEMON: Are you hopeful, Hannah?
H. HASSAN: Yes, I hope everything will go well.
LEMON: Yes. Are you hopeful?
MOKHEMAR: I am very hopeful.
H. HASSAN: I'm very hopeful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: So it's very hopeful.
So Tareq and Hana Hassan are here, and Moustafa Mokhemar here as well.
Thanks for joining us.
It's been 24 hours since we talked.
I have to ask you. When we came and the young man out of the break -- and the young man was saying we want you gone, we want you gone, and you're watching the video. I watched your face and what was that expression? What are you feeling when you see that?
H. HASSAN: I feel like the people are already chose what they want and they don't want to go back on their world. And they want to go forward, not backward.
LEMON: So you think it's a done deal for the people even though Mubarak doesn't realize it?
H. HASSAN: Yes, definitely. Definitely.
LEMON: So listen, we went through Iran very recently and everyone thought that Ahmadinejad might be gone. He's still there. What if the same thing happens with Mubarak? H. HASSAN: I hope not. I really wish not.
LEMON: There was a pained expression when I said that on your face.
H. HASSAN: Yes, I really hope not.
LEMON: What do you think?
MOKHEMAR: I think he'll be gone. But if he doesn't go, it will be disaster.
LEMON: It could be what?
MOKHEMAR: Disaster.
LEMON: Disaster. Why?
MOKHEMAR: Because the people don't want him anymore. And there won't be rest until he's out.
LEMON: Twenty-four hours later, what do you think, Tareq, as we spoke last night and you had just watched the Mubarak speech and now here we are?
T. HASSAN: Unfortunately, the events continue to unfold. Every time he talks or takes any kind of action, whether it's an appointment of a vice president or a head of the cabinet, the prime minister, you know, it inflames the people and it basically causes additional pain and anger in the country.
And, you know, I think if he had basically come out yesterday and said -- I'm leaving. A lot of the bloodshed that we saw today on the international media would have been avoided.
LEMON: It would not have happened.
When we talk about why Americans should be paying attention to this, what it means to America, and what it means to our place in the world, you said it has to do with fundamentalism, with terrorism, because the seeds are there. The people are unhappy.
T. HASSAN: Well, the seeds are there but the seeds have really been planted by the inaptitude of the government. Government to some degree is responsible providing education, providing services, providing support to the people, and when the government is so inept as it has proven to be in Egypt for the last 30 years, you have groups that do step in such as the Muslim brotherhoods, that fulfill such a thing. When there was an earthquake in Cairo many years ago, the government was totally, you know, caught flat-footed.
LEMON: And they stepped in.
T. HASSAN: And they step in.
LEMON: And that's where the seeds of terrorism are planted? T. HASSAN: Exactly. If you have a functional government that responds and basically, respects its citizenry, then you will not have -- you will not leave the door opened to such organizations to come in and, basically, take hold.
LEMON: Last night you even mentioned Bin Laden?
T. HASSAN: You know, basically, you know, Bin Laden says he's a Muslim. Nobody really -- the fundamentals that he's espousing do not relate to Islam in any way, shape or form. And basically -- but we do find situations where we, as a country, have not really -- we've talked the talk but we haven't walked the walk.
LEMON: You said that when people are not happy, like you said when the government is not providing, it opens the door for the Bin Ladens of the world. I think that's what you said and I'm paraphrasing you last night.
And I'll ask you again, even 24 hours after we had that dinner last night, hopeful? Hannah?
H. HASSAN: I'm hopeful. I hope everything will go as what the people want in Egypt. They deserve all the best. They're really nice people and kind and hospitable. They deserve better than that.
LEMON: Moustafa, hopeful?
MOKHEMAR: I'm very hopeful, yes.
LEMON: And you?
T. HASSAN: I'm extremely hopeful. I just hope that things would end very soon and that we could see an end to this bloodshed and rioting and looting very quickly.
LEMON: We appreciate you all coming in. Thank you.
We know it's a trying time and you're worried about your relatives there and the security of the country.
Thank you, again, so much.
T. HASSAN: Thank you.
MOKHEMAR: Thank you.
LEMON: Up next on CNN --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm making a report right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A video report.
ROBERTSON: We're making a video report right now. What you want to say?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Egyptians wanting their voices to be heard on the streets of their country and around the world.
We're also looking at the messages they're sending via social media.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it's like the light at the end of the tunnel, you know. It's something, you know, we've always wanted, we've always been hoping for so it can't come soon enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The ancient port city of Alexandria has seen its own share of mass demonstrations and deadly clashes. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has been in the thick of it all all day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: No one, it seems, too young to be part of Egypt's revolution. Even if not quite sure what it's all about. Gone was the violence of Friday. Louder came the voices calling on their president to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want Mubarak to get out. We want Mubarak to get out.
ROBERTSON: None impressed by his speech to the nation, this politics professor incensed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Job order yesterday.
ROBERTSON: It's a sham?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Job orders. I can do everything! I can do everything!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't think he can?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
ROBERTSON: Thirty years of rage against this ruler boiling over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a stupid officer. He has nothing better to do. All the lies, all the lies about -- he was a military hero. It's lies. Everybody knows that.
ROBERTSON: In these massive crowds, expectations are high. Anger, higher, still. A mix made more combustible by the absence of police, fueling fears change will be bloody. This tour guide telling me, perhaps better to accept their president's demand to stay in power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we let him go now, that will -- that will be the problem. We need security here and --
ROBERTSON: Only a few soldiers are on the streets. None seem ready to fight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The army --
ROBERTSON: This former general I meet says the army has a plan. Protect the president, not the people.
(on camera) So what does the army need to do now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It must protect the public.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Emergency services are already stretched. More than 31 dead in Alexandria. Wards overflowing with casualties from the protests. Even anger at doctors short-staffed, unable to keep up. The toll expected to climb as criminals take to the streets. Looting in the absence of law and order. And as frustration on the streets escalate, ignored by their president.
(on camera) 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 out on the electronic part of the revolution goes on, everyone here, almost, is carrying their cell phones, propagating their message around the country. The voices here in Alexandria just are getting louder and louder. By the day, the stakes for both people and president, more dangerous.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Alexandria, Egypt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And from Alexandria to Egypt's capital.
(VIDEO CLIP)
Protesters demonstrate outrage in Cairo. CNN's Ivan Watson is in the thick of it. His report from Egypt straight ahead.
And Cairo was not alone. Protesters also express their outrage in the U.S. We'll talk with the man who organized one here in Atlanta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's happening to our president? He said he would change everything. We don't want him. He should go out. We don't want him here because he's not responsible about all this here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The sun is about to come up on the sixth day of turmoil in Egypt.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Tens of thousands of Egyptians have been in the streets demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule. Dozens have died in violent clashes with riot police over the past week. Countless others were hurt. The riot police have now disappeared, replaced by military troops and tanks and armored vehicles. And so far the military and civilians have avoided clashing, but now the anti-Mubarak sentiment has spread to cities around the world.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN is getting video and iReports from around the globe. This rally happened today in London. Demonstrators in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and many other places also turned out to show support for the uprising in Egypt. Social order and security have collapsed in Egypt's largest cities. Police stations have been raided for their weapons, looting is rampant. Ordinary Egyptians are arming themselves with clubs and knives for protection.
There are also reports tonight of a massive prison break outside of Cairo with about a thousand inmates now on the loose. One of those rallies we told you about -- we were talking about were here in Atlanta right outside the CNN headquarters, in fact. And the protesters seemed just as angry with the U.S. over the situation in Egypt as they are with President Mubarak.
Sameh Abdelaziz helped to organize that protest. And what brought you out for this protest today? Why did you do it?
Hello, Don, and thank you for the invite.
LEMON: Thanks for coming.
SAMEH ABDELAZIZ, ORGANIZER, "TRUE DEMOCRACY FOR EGYPT": I am here as I said all along, we gave up on Mubarak government a long time ago. We are here to talk to our government, the American government, that it is time to stay true to our principals and the freedom and democracy that we talk about always. It's time to take a side. It's time to say that we are on the side of the people that are fighting for democracy and freedom.
LEMON: All right. Let's take a look at the rally, Sameh, and we'll talk more.
ABDELAZIZ: All right, thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Down with injustice. Down, down with injustice.
ARNY SOEJOEDI, PROTESTER: We have to help out the people. They need justice.
MUSTAFA MAZHER, PROTESTER: If there's no sort of democracy that we're promoting here that's in the Middle East and it's not represented over there, we're not doing our job here. We're supporting a government over there that's been in power for 30 years.
SEAN PHILLIPS, PROTESTER: I don't think that the Egyptian people will be free until they take down Mubarak.
LEMON: And tell me what this is. You said "U.S. 'aid' equals tear gas." What does that mean?
AHMED NAZEEM, PROTESTER: Yes. This is the military, they are giving to Egypt. They are supporting that corrupted regime by giving them money and these weapons to be used against the Egyptian people. And we want the U.S. to stop supporting these dictatorships and give the opportunity to the Egyptians to elect the leaders.
LEMON: This sign says Americans should be aware of that?
SAMI ALMALFOUH, PROTESTER: Of course. Yes. They should know that their money is not being used building democracy. It's been used to oppress the people. It's quite the opposite of what's the purpose of the U.S. funds. It goes for a different message, sends a different message.
The U.S. aid for the military today to Egypt is $1.3 billion. The economy is $250 million only. So, if you compare that to that, that's the point -- that's the point of this sign, is that we want aid, of course, to build infrastructure and build -- kind of let the people, you know, live a normal life and have a real democracy.
ABDELAZIZ: We're not here to try to talk to Mubarak's government. We gave up on this a long time ago. We're here to talk to our government, the American government, to ask them to stay true to our American principles of democracy and freedom by standing beside the Egyptian people that are dying in the little towns and villages over there.
SHERYFALI MOUSA, PROTESTER: President Mubarak has been there for 30 years. We want him out.
(CHANTING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Sameh, we saw you there and you said you were angry. You organized this, just, what, two or three days ago?
ABDELAZIZ: Absolutely. I mean, I started the whole thing -- it started on Tuesday. We started working on this --
LEMON: On Facebook? ABDELAZIZ: Yes. We started working on this on Wednesday afternoon, just four friends got together on the phone and decided what we need to do. Built the page and here you go.
LEMON: Yes. There were -- many of the people out there were saying that the U.S. government should really know what their money is going for, the billions of dollars that go there. What is it going towards? What's the concern?
ABDELAZIZ: Absolutely. I mean, definitely, we're giving Mubarak's government $1.3 billion for over -- since, what, since the early '80s when he took over. And this money, the majority of it, is put into armies. And this is not helping the people. And the government itself is a corrupted government that over the years, we have seen more people fall into poverty. We have seen education go down. And this is what Egypt used to export to the world.
LEMON: And you say, do you think that the U.S. is helping to facilitate that in some way?
ABDELAZIZ: I'm sure it is not our intention to facilitate this kind of corruption. But the idea that you can get stability by supporting a corrupt government have proved wrong. And it is about time to reconsider who is our ally and be on the right side of history. It is not working. We know it is not working, Don.
LEMON: My previous guest said the people have already made up their mind and they're ready to move on but Mubarak hasn't?
ABDELAZIZ: I totally agree. I think the problem --
LEMON: But will he?
ABDELAZIZ: Mubarak? Mubarak is gone. The problem is, how long it will take for him to have no options but leaving.
LEMON: Do you think he's gone, though, because there have been -- I mention Iran, but there have been others where people thought, OK, this person is going to be gone. This regime is going to be gone and it is still in place or it remained in place for quite a while.
ABDELAZIZ: You see, Don, I think the comparison is unfair.
LEMON: OK.
ABDELAZIZ: Iran, although the whole movement in Iran was presented as it is popular movement, statistics say that at least 50 percent of Iranians support the current system. And we don't want to see that. In Egypt, the case is different. I think 99.9 percent and this would apply to his elections, which always bring 99.9 percent are against Mubarak. So this is different than Iran.
LEMON: Good stuff. Thanks for putting this into perspective. And thanks for being so kind when we were out there today. All right, Sameh?
ABDELAZIZ: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Appreciate it. Don't go anywhere yet.
ABDELAZIZ: OK.
LEMON: Thank you. We appreciate it.
Technology, and as we just told you these marches were organized on social media. Technology and social media playing important roles in revolts around the globe. We'll examine the effects their having, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I say two men has died in this square. All this people need just freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: It is early Sunday morning in Egypt. The sun will soon be rising. If the past five days are any indication, we expect Sunday will bring more Egyptians to the streets in large numbers to demand government reforms.
Even Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's ambassador to the U.S. seems to get it.
Listen as he spoke earlier tonight with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMEH SHOUKRY, EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: It's very apparent that the demonstrations that Cairo has seen and other parts of Egypt have indicated that the Egyptian people, they are most concerned with their well being and they are the owners of their future. They will continue to strive to -- for their economic and social and political development and they have aspirations, they have taken advantage of developmental programs in the past and I'm certain that greater expediency and greater speed of instilling reforms is one of the major calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: As Ivan Watson was out on the streets of Cairo as Saturday night's curfew approached, no one paid it any heed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The crowds have gathered here. They're still chanting. There's a lot of elation. But the curfew is coming fast.
So, we're trying to ask people what are they going to do when they're told to go indoors? Madam, are you going to go inside when the curfew starts?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I will not go inside, over my dead body. They will kill me, no problem.
WATSON: You're going to stay out protesting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of us, we will stay here.
WATSON: It's hard to put into words the scenes of elation that we're seeing here with people hanging on the military's tanks, riding through town. One man said, as a result of today, I feel proud to be an Egyptian for the very first time, Chanting "Down with the regime."
But there has been violence amid this carnival atmosphere. We've seen a number of people wounded, being treated by doctors on the dirty floor outside a mosque.
(CHANTING)
WATSON: What happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone killed (INAUDIBLE).
Mubarak, Mubarak -- (INAUDIBLE) Mubarak.
WATSON: We're very excited right now and pretty upset because there's been some shooting going on. The doctor telling us five dead people have been brought into this entrance of this mosque and there's one being treated right now with a bullet wound.
This has been a day of liberation for some. But it's also been a day of violence. And the doctors here at this restoration center, they say they've been treating people coming in with wounds throughout the afternoon.
We've heard about a number of gunshots. You can see this young man being treated right here with some kind of wounds to his chest and arms.
(CHANTING)
WATSON: The name of this square where this sea of chanting humanity has come to is called Tahrir Square. That means liberation. And the people here are celebrating a kind of freedom that many of them say they've never felt before.
(CHANTING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That was CNN's Ivan Watson.
How is the uprising in Egypt affecting Egyptian-Americans living here in the U.S.? We'll ask a married couple about their anxieties -- next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Egypt's outbreak and rebellion is causing for celebration and anxiety for many Egyptians living in the United States. They are cheering on the possible change in government, but they're also worried, really worried about the safety of their loved ones especially since looting is happening and police are apparently scarce there.
That is the case for a suburban Atlanta couple, Laila Noory and Abdel Kader Moawad.
Did I say that right Abdel?
ABDEL KADER MOAWAD, WORRIED FOR FAMILY IN EGYPT: Yes.
LEMON: All right, good.
So Abdel Kader, you just spoke with your parents this morning in Cairo. How are they doing?
MOAWAD: They're doing good, but they're afraid about -- they heard some shotgun, you know, firing. Some people they try to break in store.
LEMON: Yes. So they're hearing and they're seeing it all around. They're seeing it all around them?
LAILA NOORY, WORRIED FOR FAMILY IN EGYPT: Yes.
LEMON: And for you?
NOORY: Well, I'm not Egyptian.
LEMON: No, but for the families? The people that you're --
NOORY: Oh the people --
LEMON: Yes.
NOORY: It's crazy there. They're trapped in their houses. They can't go anywhere to buy simple things like food and water and everything like that.
LEMON: And listening to him talk to his family on the phone is it just --
NOORY: Oh, yes, it's horrifying just waiting to see, because we couldn't contact anybody for -- especially yesterday when the Internet and phones were all down. And so not being able to reach them was really nerve-racking because anything can happen. You were seeing looters and fires and they didn't know what was going on.
LEMON: Yes. You feel even though they're stranded you feel stranded because you can't talk to them?
NOORY: Exactly. Yes, you're just glued to the news.
LEMON: When was the last time you were there?
MOAWAD: Since I came here I didn't go back to Egypt.
LEMON: Yes, you didn't go back. And how long have you been here?
MOAWAD: One year.
LEMON: One year and you haven't been back? Do you want to go back?
MOAWAD: Of course I want to go back. I love my country a lot, but right now I can't go.
LEMON: What brought you here? Was it the situation there? What made you come?
MOAWAD: My wife.
LEMON: It was your wife?
MOAWAD: Yes.
LEMON: Would you feel safe going back at this point?
MOAWAD: For me? Yes, I have to be with the obligation over there. I have to stand with them. So -- because I'm Egyptian.
LEMON: What are they saying to you? When you speak to them on the phone, what do they say?
Do they say, Abdel Kader, oh, my gosh, this is crazy. What's the conversation like?
MOAWAD: It's scary, you know. Everyone is afraid. They are happy and afraid at the same time. Happy because something is going to change. Afraid from what's going on from criminals.
LEMON: So you have a sister, I'm told, that has been on vacation and can't get back to Cairo, right?
MOAWAD: Yes, she's stuck in Sharm El Sheik because some people over there, they went to hotels and they are stealing some stuff from hotels and broke hotels.
LEMON: So she's in, you said, Sharm El Sheik?
MOAWAD: Yes.
LEMON: She's stuck there and she can't get home?
NOORY: Right.
LEMON: Have you spoken to her? NOORY: Yes. I think we've been able to reach her.
LEMON: What are you hear something.
NOORY: Just that she's so worried about her parents who are alone by themselves in their own apartment and just, with the looters coming, you know, his father and another man from the neighborhood had to go out and have to just kind of stand guard in front of the neighborhood to make sure that they didn't come in and take everything. And I heard that was from a couple of other friends who had family there. That is also happening in their neighborhoods, as well. Like the men are just going out and trying to stop people from coming in and destroying the homes of the people.
LEMON: Not that she speaks for you, but you know, you've been here for a year and it will come. It will come around. I'll meet you in a year and I'll go like, wow, I can really understand what you're saying.
So, listen, what do you want the people who are watching to know about what your husband is going through? What the family is going through? And what people in Egypt are dealing with right now?
NOORY: Well, I think that people -- Egyptian-Americans here are just so worried and can't believe that this is happening to their country. And I think that the people there are going through an amazing change and a really frightening change because if Mubarak does leave, there is nobody to take over. And I think that's really scary that they don't really have a definite follow-up leader. And so I think that kind of leaves people nervous.
LEMON: Do you agree?
MOAWAD: Yes, I agree with that. I agree with that. Absolutely.
LEMON: Yes, dear. Yes, dear.
Abdel Kader and Leila, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
NOORY: Thank you so much.
LEMON: I appreciate it. And best of luck to you and your family, OK?
NOORY: Thank you.
MOAWAD: Thank you.
LEMON: I appreciate it.
Tens of thousands of Egyptians once again hit the streets in an antigovernment protest. We'll have an updated report straight ahead. And we'll show you how social media played a big role in the uprisings.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: It's time now to introduce you to CNN's Hero of the Week. An Israeli man whose brother was murdered by Hamas. Instead of plotting revenge, Yuvai Roth is working to promote peace by transporting sick Palestinians from occupied areas into Israel so they can get quality health care.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE.
YUVAI ROTH, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: In Palestine, health care is very expensive. It is not accessible. It's a big difference between the life here and one minute away.
My name is Yuvai Roth. We transport sick Palestinians from the occupied territories into the Israeli hospitals. If they should take a taxi, it will cost them a lot of money. They can't afford it.
My brother, Udan, he was murdered by Hamas people that caused me to do something. Not in terms of revenge, but to look for a way for reconciliation and peace.
Right now, we are about 200 volunteers. And we transport from Israeli side of the check point at least five days a week.
It's very exciting moment when you see improvement. It fills me a lot of happiness. The price of the conflict is a lot more than the price of making peace. Regardless of political or religious, I think that we all are human beings.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: E-Mail, Twitter, Facebook, it's all a struggle to use if you are and or trying to communicate with anyone in Egypt. Demonstrators believe it's a deliberate problem of government tactic to gain some control of the dissent.
CNN's Josh Levs has more on the impact the technology has been making on government rebellion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What I'd like to do for you now is going to pull back a little bit, stare at the globe and just think about how technology has changed everything and how technology has changed what it is to have a revolt in our era. Let's go to some of this video as we talk this out.
You know, part of what happened is every government in the world saw back in 2009 when there were protests in Iran and Iran tried to clamp out basically all interactivity, all Internet and social media, but some things still managed to squeak out. And those things that got out were amplified all over the world. That is in a way a lesson to every country in the world. And what we have been seeing in Egypt in recent days has some similarities. You know, you have all these protests that have taken off. There's a lot that's different between Egypt and Iran. But you have these protests on the streets and you did have all of a sudden a disappearance in a lot of ways of the ability to use the Internet and that's where this chart comes in that we can zoom in on quickly.
I want to talk to you all a little bit about it, because we have this up right now for you at cnn.com in our technology section. And what it does is it shows you Internet activity in Egypt each day and then it shows you what happened and the 27th when all of a sudden boom, it's basically gone to this tiny little trickled way down here.
Now there are two things to understand about this and we can talk this out as we go back to some of that video. One is even with that little trickle going on, it gets amplified all over the world. So those people out there who were managing to get out tweets, YouTube videos, iReports that they sent to us, people all over the world were then sharing them.
And this is a sign that no matter how hard some government might try, it's impossible in this era to completely block out that kind of Internet access. What gets out will be amplified.
The other point to understand really important is technology inside Egypt. Most Egyptians are not facebooking and tweeting. Lots don't have that access. But huge numbers of Egyptians have cell phones. And when cell phone service was knocked out, that can have a huge impact and people inside the country finding out what's going on.
When we report to you that now we are learning that cell phones are working again, a lot of people are able to text, that's very significant for how technology is impacting the state of these protests inside the country right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That was CNN's Josh Levs.
Reports of a huge prison escape near Cairo pop new concerns. Residents already up in arms. And tens of thousands marching the streets ignoring government curfews.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Daybreak now in Egypt, as the world watches, a widespread uprising there.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Tens of thousands of Egyptians have been in the streets demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule. Dozens have died in violent clashes with riot police over the past week. Countless others were hurt. The riot police have now disappeared replaced by military troops and tanks and armored vehicles. So far, the military and civilians have avoided clashing.
Social order and security have collapsed in Egypt's largest cities. Police stations have been raided for their weapons. Looting is rampant.
There are also reports tonight of a massive prison break outside of Cairo with about 1,000 inmates now on the loose.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Thanks for watching. I'll see you back here tomorrow night at 6:00, 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Our coverage of "Egypt in Crisis" continues right now.
