Diary of a protestor... E24|7 report from Egypt

Shehabudin Ahmed is one among the millions of anti-regime protestors who are frustrated and is demonstrating against Egypt’s President Mubarak’s 30-years of uninterrupted rule marked by corruption. “It is time to end his era as 30 years were enough for Mubarak to work for Egypt but he and his son have done nothing for the country,” he says.

“I am 31 years old and I have never seen any other President ruling the country since 1980.

“Egyptians don’t like to demonstrate. We have always respected our rulers ever since the pharaohs. But President Mubarak has let us down.

“I graduated in law as I dreamt of becoming a lawyer and I wanted to work in a government office to look after my family but the dream did not become a reality.

“I am young but there are no dreams left. It is high time I got married but with no job my prospects are quite bad and I don’t want to make a girl suffer the same fate,” he said.

Ahmed added that the internet helped the youth to stay off the streets for so long. Everyone exchanged ideas and thoughts about the political climate of the country over social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It helped the young population air their thoughts and vent their frustration. A lot of Egyptians who had run-ins with the police or internal security agencies shared their experience with others.

Ahmed said, Egyptians are extremely scared of dealing with police as they might be abused or accused of crimes they haven’t committed.

He explained that President Mubarak launched his era with marshal law where police authorities can arrest anyone at any time without any questions asked.

“We started our fight with demonstration and we dreamed to remove Mubarak from his throne but the man is very stubborn but we will fight to the end.”
 

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