Egyptian uprising resonates in Sydney
As Egypt enters the second week of the biggest anti-government demonstrations the country has seen, the large Egyptian community in Australia is following every move.
Several times in the past week, Australian-Egyptians have gathered in Sydney to show their solidarity with the demonstrators.
“Having seen how Egypt always has been, nothing short of a revolution was ever going to topple the regime and bring it back to where it should be,” one Egyptian demonstrator Hanan, told the City Hub at Hyde Park on Sunday.
“I just hope all the people’s efforts and all the pain they have gone through will bring the right results in the end.”
Despite hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets day after day, chanting “Down with Mubarak”, the president is not giving up after 30 years in power leading a corrupt and repressive regime.
More than one hundred protesters have been shot dead by police. The regime has cut off internet and mobile phone access, and expelled journalists from Al Jazeera television, yet the demonstrations continue to grow.
Mahmoud Elsayed left Egypt two years ago and now lives in Newtown. Although he longed for the day he would see the end of Mubarak’s reign, he didn’t expect to see this mass uprising.
He has barely slept during the past week as he has closely followed the unfolding events back home, but was buzzing with excitement.
“I just wish I could be there to share this great moment in Egyptian history,” Mahmoud said.
“I am really very happy and proud about what the Egyptians are doing now. It’s something that I hoped for but never expected,” Mahmoud said.
He added that he was disappointed by western government’s continued support for Mubarak despite the scale of the demonstrations.
“Countries based on democracy and liberty need to support the Egyptian people. They can’t say the government can stabilise the situation,” he said.
“We are not asking for money or military interference, but we don’t want democratic countries to support this dictator anymore.
“Before I came to Australia two years ago, I used to see the corruption, the lack of democracy and the falsified elections. We knew that there would be change someday but we did not know when.”
Another demonstrator, 30-year-old Australian-born Adel Helal said he felt excited and hopeful to see the uprising.
“It’s one of those things were you say, finally there’s a bit of hope for our country. Mubarak has been in power for 30 years, all of my life. There’s a lot of people dejected, who didn’t have motivation,” Adel said.
“The youth of Egypt are gunpowder and the Tunisians are the spark. All it needed was for people to give us the hope, if we want the freedom we can have it.”
LIZ CUSH
