"Egypt Finish!"

The New Times correspondents Ilya Barabanov and Yegor Mostovikhov are transmitted from Cairo

* * * * © AP Photo * * * *
On the first of February, on the eighth day of protest in Egypt, the three -day period has expired, which the demonstrators took away to the new government to begin with indigenous changes in the country. On this day, hundreds of thousands of manifestants reached the streets of Egyptian cities, requiring the resignation of the country's president Hosni Mubarak. In the morning, thousands of people besieged the railway station in Alexandria, trying to go to Cairo. But the railway message, like the message by regular buses, has been paralyzed for several days in the country.

* * * * © Guardian.co.uk * * * *
At the entrance to Alexandria, where the New Times correspondents went, a cork for hundreds of meters from cars in front of a checkpoint was also lined up. The military checked each car for the availability of weapons and checked documents from foreigners entering the city. On the main square, tens of thousands of people gathered on this day (one of the largest squares on the Alexandria embankment).

Ibrahim is 43 years old, he is an insurance agent and looks like a clerk who went out for a walk on his weekend. Gently dressed in fresh ironed shirts and vests. He says that the people suffered Mubarak for 30 years, but now people went to the square and demand to return their freedom, and intend to stand on it until the president retires.
Ahmed is only 20, and he is a student of a local college. He says that after graduation, he will not be able to find a job, because the country has great unemployment. However, if he manages to find a job, then the maximum that he can count on is a salary of $ 100 per month.
While he is saying this, the manifestants carry a stretcher past us. They imitate the coffin in which the "dead" lies, depicting the president of Mubarak. People take off their shoes and knock on this improvised coffin, thus demonstrating their extreme contempt and disrespect for the dictator.

* * * * © AP Photo * * * * In the afternoon, when the demonstrators began to move around the city, the explosion in one of the areas of compact residence of the Copts (Egyptian Christians) thundered. He thundered just at the moment when The New Times correspondents were heading to this area. Immediately after this, impromptu detachments of volunteers blocked the city streets, actually paralyzing the movement in Alexandria. It should be noted that in Alexandria, in comparison with Cairo, the authorities completely passed into the hands of the people. Here, not only there are no police officers who disappeared after the first days of a clash with the manifestants, in Alexandria there are not even military people who are trying to at least somehow control the situation in the capital of Egypt.

* * * * © AP Photo * * * * Many people come that in Cairo, that in Alexandria, not even to participate in demonstrations. They will learn that voluntary brigades are being formed by those who follow the law and order, who do not allow looting, robberies and violence, and come to participate even in this, and not in political protest.
One of the most popular phrases that the New Times correspondents heard on the streets of Egyptian cities - Egypt Finish - Egypt ended.

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