'Remove Mubarak, replace him with a sheep!'
Lindsey Hilsum blogs: what a strange reversal that those who support the government have to whisper in corners while the rebels who would have been arrested two weeks ago are out there shouting in public “remove Mubarak, replace him with a sheep”.
It was an extraodinary scene in Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, this afternoon. I stood on an overpass at the railway station, and there were people – tens of thousands of people – crammed into the streets around as far as they eye could see.
This is by far the largest demo in Alexandria since the protests began. One man said to me: “We want to say this is peaceful protest, no-one is carrying weapons, we’re just demonstating against the current situation. People are not happy as whatever the government has promsed is not what the people want.”
One middle-aged woman sitting in a wheelchair shouted to me “no justice, no justice”. A family had sat their three toddlers on the top of the car holding up banners. A man with a beard, which made me think he might be from the Muslim Brotherhood, said in English “I live in Vauxhall, do you know SW8?”
A rather handsome young man said earnestly “this is for Muslims, Christians, Jews, atheists, Bahais, homosexuals, bisexuals and lesbians.” I’m not sure everyone in the crowd would have agreed with that. I was suprised when a couple of men came up to me to say that they supported President Mubarak but they were afraid to speak in public on camera.
What a strange reversal that those who support the government have to whisper in corners while the rebels who would have been arrested two weeks ago are out there shouting in public “remove Mubarak, replace him with a sheep”.
The two men who supported the president said they were afraid that there would be chaos if he resigned.
“These people don’t understand what will happen in the future,” they said.
At one point a rumour surged in the crowd that the president had in fact resigned, people began to shout and cry and cheer. “Thirty years is enough, it’s over, he’s gone,” shouted the man I was talking to, but it wasn’t true.
As I write President Mubarak is still in power and there are tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, are on the streets of Alexandria saying they’ll keep protesting until he’s gone.