Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sent shock waves through the Middle East when he stepped down from office Friday Feb. 11. Mubarak’s vice president Omar Suleiman made the announcement over national television that the president was stepping down and handing over his power to the Supreme Council of the armed forces. After his resignation, Mubarak and his family left Cairo for the Sharm el-Sheik resort in Sinai. The large crowds of Egyptians packed in Tahrir Square cheered when the announcement came that Mubarak’s thirty-year rule over the country had finally come to an end.

Mixed messages

The televised announcement of Mubarak being forced from power came on Friday, but just the day before Mubarak had told the country, in a televised address, he would not be resigning until his term was finished. The announcement was not the resignation speech that protesters and worldwide spectators had been expecting. Crowds in Tahrir Square were outraged and threatened protests would become more violent. Mubarak stepped down the next day.

Mubarak’s health uncertain

Reports of Mubarak’s health declining have recently started to circulate and those closest to him refuse to give details about his condition. Newspapers in Egypt have been printing articles suggesting that Mubarak is in poor health and is clinging to life. No definite reports of his condition have been made available to the public yet.

Media involved in Egypt’s change of government

Media and social networking played a key role in the removal of Mubarak from office. Google marketing executive, Wael Ghonim, had been calling for Mubarak’s resignation on his Facebook and soon many other Egyptians started using social media as a means to gain support for the protests.

Biola students are aware of the power of the world wide web. “[The internet] makes it so easy to involve a large number of people,” said sophomore Colleen Shanebeck, “Something you post a thousand people can see.”

“The Internet has a huge influence,” acknowledged junior Sarah McMillen “It’s a lot louder than one guy standing in front of a microphone; it’s different when you have hundreds of people saying the same thing.”

Protesters utilize social media

The Egyptian protesters used twitter to track the location of police, to send out locations of the planned protests and to also report incidents of abuse of protesters by the police. When the announcement came on Friday that Mubarak had resigned, Egyptians took to their twitters and Facebooks to spread the news they had been victorious.