Delight as Mubarak swept from power

CRIES of “Egypt is free” rang out and fireworks lit up the sky over Cairo’s Tahrir Square last night where hundreds of thousands celebrated the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptians danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium after 18 days of mass pro-democracy protests forced Mubarak to hand over power to the military, ending three decades of authoritarian rule.

Protesters hoisted soldiers onto their shoulders and families posed for pictures in front of tanks in streets flooded with residents of the capital of 18 million people streaming out to celebrate. Strangers hugged strangers. Chants of “Hold your heads high, you’re Egyptian” echoed.

The military, which effectively carried out a coup at the pleas of protesters that it push Mubarak out, announced on state television that it was committed to shepherding demands for greater democracy.

Mubarak’s downfall at the hands of the biggest popular uprising in the modern history of the Arab world had stunning implications for the US and the West, Israel and the region, unsettling authoritarian rulers across the Middle East.

The 82-year-old leader was the epitome of the implicit deal the US was locked into in the Middle East for decades: Support for autocratic leaders in return for their guarantee of stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants and peace, or at least an effort at peace, with Israel.