IT MIGHT be the end. It is certainly the beginning of the end.Across Egypt, tens of thousands of Arabs braved tear gas, watercannons, stun grenades and live fire yesterday to demand the removalof Hosni Mubarak after more than 30 years of dictatorship.
And as Cairo lay drenched under clouds of tear gas from thousandsof canisters fired into dense crowds by riot police, it looked as ifhis rule was nearing its finish. None of us on the streets of Cairoyesterday even knew where Mubarak - who would later appear ontelevision to dismiss his cabinet - was. And I didn't find anyonewho cared.
They were brave, largely peaceful, these tens of thousands, butthe shocking behaviour of Mubarak's plainclothes battagi - the worddoes literally mean "thugs" in Arabic - who beat, bashed andassaulted demonstrators while the cops watched and did nothing, wasa disgrace. These men, many of them ex-policemen who are drugaddicts, were last night the front line of the Egyptian state. Thetrue representatives of Hosni Mubarak as uniformed cops showered gason to the crowds.
At one point last night, gas canisters were streaming smokeacross the waters of the Nile as riot police and protesters foughton the great river bridges. It was incredible, a risen people whowould no longer take violence and brutality and prison as their lotin the largest Arab nation. And the police themselves might becracking: "What can we do?" one of the riot cops asked us. "We haveorders. Do you think we want to do this? This country is goingdownhill." The government imposed a curfew last night as protestersknelt in prayer in front of police.
How does one describe a day that may prove to be so giant a pagein Egypt's history? Maybe reporters should abandon their analysesand just tell the tale of what happened from morning to night in oneof the world's most ancient cities. So here it is, the story from mynotes, scribbled amid a defiant people in the face of thousands ofplainclothes and uniformed police.
It began at the Istikama mosque on Giza Square: a grimthoroughfare of gaunt concrete apartment blocks and a line of riotpolice that stretched as far as the Nile. We all knew that MohamedElBaradei would be there for midday prayers and, at first, the crowdseemed small. The cops smoked cigarettes. If this was the end of thereign of Mubarak, it was a pretty unimpressive start.
But then, no sooner had the last prayers been uttered than thecrowd of worshippers, perched above the highway, turned towards thepolice. "Mubarak, Mubarak," they shouted. "Saudi Arabia is waitingfor you." That's when the water cannons were turned on the crowd -the police had every intention of fighting them even though not astone had been thrown. The water smashed into the crowd and then thehoses were pointed directly at ElBaradei, who reeled back, drenched.
He had returned from Vienna a few hours earlier and few Egyptiansthink he will run Egypt - he claims to want to be a negotiator - butthis was a disgrace. Egypt's most honoured politician, a Nobel prizewinner who had held the post of the UN's top nuclear inspector, wasdrenched like a street urchin. That's what Mubarak thought of him, Isuppose: just another trouble maker with a "hidden agenda" - thatreally is the language the Egyptian government is using right now.
And then the tear gas burst over the crowds. Perhaps there were afew thousand now, but as I walked beside them, something remarkablehappened. From apartment blocks and dingy alleyways, fromneighbouring streets, hundreds and then thousands of Egyptiansswarmed on to the highway leading to Tahrir Square. This is the onetactic the police had decided to prevent. To have Mubarak'sdetractors in the very centre of Cairo would suggest that his rulewas already over. The government had already cut the internet -slicing off Egypt from the rest of the world - and killed all of themobile phone signals. It made no difference.
"We want the regime to fall," the crowds screamed. Not perhapsthe most memorable cry of revolution but they shouted it again andagain until they drowned out the pop of tear gas grenades. From allover Cairo they surged into the city, middle-class youngsters fromGazira, the poor from the slums of Beaulak al-Daqrour, marchingsteadily across the Nile bridges like an army - which, I guess, waswhat they were.
Still the gas grenades showered over them. Coughing and retching,they marched on. Many held their coats over their mouths or queuedat a lemon shop where the owner squeezed fresh fruit into theirmouths. Lemon juice - an antidote to tear gas - poured across thepavement into the gutter.
This was Cairo, of course, but these protests were taking placeall over Egypt, not least in Suez, where 13 Egyptians have so farbeen killed. The demonstrations began not just at mosques but atCoptic churches. "I am a Christian, but I am an Egyptian first," aman called Mina told me. "I want Mubarak to go." And that is whenthe first bataggi arrived, pushing to the front of the police ranksin order to attack the protesters. They had metal rods and policetruncheons - from where? - and sharpened sticks, and could beprosecuted for serious crimes if Mubarak's regime falls. They werevicious. One man whipped a youth over the back with a long yellowcable. He howled with pain. Across the city, the cops stood inranks, legions of them, the sun glinting on their visors. The crowdwere supposed to be afraid, but the police looked ugly, like hoodedbirds. Then the protesters reached the east bank of the Nile.
A few tourists found themselves caught up in this spectacle - Isaw three middle-aged ladies on one of the Nile bridges (Cairo'shotels had not, of course, told their guests what was happening) -but the police decided that they would hold the east end of theflyover. They opened their ranks again and sent the thugs in to beatthe leading protesters. And this was the moment the tear-gassingbegan in earnest, hundreds upon hundreds of canisters raining on tothe crowds who marched from all roads into the city. It stung oureyes and made us cough until we were gasping. Men were being sickbeside sealed shop fronts.
Fires appear to have broken out last night near Mubarak's rubber-stamp NDP headquarters. A curfew was imposed and first reports spokeof troops in the city, an ominous sign that the police had lostcontrol. We took refuge in the old Cafe Riche off Telaat HarbSquare, a tiny restaurant and bar of blue-robed waiters; and there,sipping his coffee, was the great Egyptian writer Ibrahim AbdulMeguid, right in front of us. It was like bumping into Tolstoytaking lunch amid the Russian revolution. "There has been noreaction from Mubarak!" he exalted. "It is as if nothing hashappened! But they will do it - the people will do it!" The guestssat choking from the gas. It was one of those memorable scenes thatoccur in movies rather than real life.
And there was an old man on the pavement, one hand over hisstinging eyes. Retired Colonel Weaam Salim of the Egyptian army,wearing his medal ribbons from the 1967 war with Israel - whichEgypt lost - and the 1973 war, which the colonel thought Egypt hadwon. "I am leaving the ranks of veteran soldiers," he told me. "I amjoining the protesters." And what of the army? Throughout the day wehad not seen them. Their colonels and brigadiers and generals weresilent. Were they waiting until Mubarak imposed martial law?
The crowds refused to abide by the curfew. In Suez, they setpolice trucks on fire. Opposite my own hotel, they tried to tipanother truck into the Nile. I couldn't get back to Western Cairoover the bridges. The gas grenades were still soaring off the edgesinto the Nile. But a cop eventually took pity on us - not a quality,I have to say, that was much in evidence yesterday - and led us tothe very bank of the Nile. And there was an old Egyptian motorboat,the tourist kind, with plastic flowers and a willing owner. So wesailed back in style, sipping Pepsi. And then a yellow speed boatswept past with two men making victory signs at the crowds on thebridges, a young girl standing in the back, holding a massive bannerin her hands. It was the flag of Egypt.
EGYPTS DAY OF CRISIS
* President Mubarak's regime called in the army and imposed acurfew after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streetsdemanding an end to his rule.
* Large numbers of protesters defied the curfew in Cairo to stormthe state TV building and the Foreign Ministry.
* The headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party wereset alight.
* Protesters chased riot police away from Cairo's main square.Some police are reported to have removed their uniforms to join thedemonstrators. Tanks and troops were ordered to retake the square.
* At least 20 people were killed in violent clashes in Egyptiancities.
* Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei was put under housearrest after being hosed by water cannon.
* Mobile phone and internet services were disrupted to preventsocial networking sites such as Facebook being used to orchestrateprotests.
* Mr Mubarak announced he will form a new government thismorning. He has asked his cabinet to resign.
* US President Barack Obama made a televised address in which herevealed that he told Mr Mubarak he must deliver on reforms.
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