Mubarak Leaves Office After 18 Days of Protest

Cairo - PNN - After 18 days of unprecedent protests in Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak decided to "waive the office of the republic" and left the country on Friday afternoon. Mubarak left power in the hands of the Egyptian military, with Vice President Omar Suleiman, who Mubarak appointed, likely to transition into authority.

Protests against deposed president Mubarak (PNN Archive).
Celebrations were reported all over Egypt immediately after the announcement, which came at 6 p.m. in Cairo.
Mubarak's flight comes one week after the "Friday of Departure," a day of protests in Egypt's Tahrir Square that drew more than two million people. This Friday, helicopters were seen leaving the Presidential Palace in Cairo, where thousands of protesters had gathered, angry that Mubarak had voiced his intent to retain the presidency in a speech on Thursday night.

Three weeks of protests in Egypt, the largest since the 1970s, have left more than 300 people dead and 5000 injured, according to Human Rights Watch. Spurred by success in Tunisia, Egyptian protesters demanded the end of Mubarak's 30-year regime, characterized by corruption and a seemingly neverending state of emergency, which granted the military and police forces virtually unchecked privileges.

Shortly before Mubarak left, human rights activist and presidential hopeful Mohammed al-Baradei tweeted from a crowded Tahrir Square, "Entire nation is on the streets. Only way out is for regime to go. People power can't be crushed. We shall prevail."

The official statement from Vice President Suleiman read, "In these difficult circumstances the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down as president of Egypt. He has decided that the higher council of the armed forces will lead the nation."