Egypt Celebrates Mubarak's Departure

March 04, 2011 | Pulitzer Center

Ellen Knickmeyer, for the Pulitzer Center

Among the demonstrators were many--like this heavily bandaged man--who had been wounded when Mubarak supporters and hired thugs–some of them mounted on horses and camels–attacked anti-Mubarak protesters in Tahrir Square. After the violent clashes, anti-Mubarak activists called themselves veterans of "The Battle of the Camels." Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

On Feb. 11, the day after a late-night speech by President Hosni Mubarak raised and then dashed hopes that he would resign, large crowds flooded into Tahrir Square and marched through downtown Cairo. Here, thousands of protesters fill the street in front of the headquarters of Egypt's state television, despised by protesters for reporting that the uprising was prompted by foreign media. "Where is Jazeera now?'' crowds chanted, yelling up at the blank windows of state TV. "Here are the Egyptian people." Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

In the hours before Mubarak fell, Rashaa Ali, 22, stood silently for long moments in front of a line of army tanks, thrusting an Egyptian flag toward the state TV building. "I wanted to let them know how much I hate them," Ali said of state media. Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

Egyptian soldiers themselves were widely popular with the protesters, who saw the army as the country's and the people's defender. In a scene repeated again and again, parents plunked their children on top of tanks for photos with the soldiers. Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

After spurring Mubarak's overthrow, activists in the youth movement struggled to keep the momentum of the revolution going. "Find books" on other countries with successful post-revolutions, Ahmed Maher, a leader of the April the 6th movement, urged his followers in a meeting in an abandoned house. "Read, read!" Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

Leaders of the youth movement that toppled Mubarak's three-decade regime spent their days meeting with army generals and delegations of high-level foreign diplomats, and talking to scores of journalists. At night, they met with their young colleagues. Here, Ahmed Maher talks to members of the April the 6th Movement in an abandoned building after the group had been kicked out of borrowed headquarters. Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

In the days and weeks after the revolution, Tahrir Square and the Qasr al Nil bridge leading to it became a place of pilgrimage. A place to look at the photos of protesters killed. A place of celebration, where families brought children for picnics and more photos with soldiers. And a place of ongoing protests, as activists sought to keep up pressure for reform after Mubarak's departure. Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

After attacks on foreigners resulted in the evacuation of thousands of tourists and expatriate workers, Egyptians sought to jump-start their stalled economy by encouraging tourists to return. Image by Ellen Knickmeyer, Egypt, 2011.

After 18 days of unprecedented popular demonstrations against his 30 year rule, Mubarak stepped down as Egyptian president.