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>> and now "bbc world news." >> joy and jubilation in egypt as president mubarak finally steps down from power. >> these people are celebrating victory tonight. >> triumph of the people. 18 days of protests, bringing 30 years of authoritarian rule to an end. all power now rests with the military. the generals say they will guarantee reform. president obama welcomes mubarak's departure, saying it's just the beginning of egypt's transition to democracy. >> the people of egypt have spoken. their voices have been heard. and egypt will never be the same. >> but as the protesters celebrate in cairo's tahrir

square, many are asking what will happen now? >> welcome to "bbc news." we're broadcasting in the u.k. and right around the world. i'm alistair yates. there are scenes of rejoicing around egypt as they celebrate the news their president mubarak has resigned after 30 years in power. the vice president announced that the military had been placed in charge of the country, prompting a deafening yell of approval. this is the scene in the square at the moment, just after 4:00 a.m. local time. many people, as you can see, still there, reluctant to go home, wanting to enjoy this historic day.

our middle east editor looks back at the last day of hosni mubarak's presidency. >> in the end, the announcement came suddenly and in tahrir square they were taken by surprise. but the news only took a few seconds to sink in. people who had been leaving after another long day of demonstrating turned around and pushed their way back into the square. it was uninhibited, raucous joy. >> egypt is a free country, and we will prove to the rest of the whole world that we will be a country where we are free. >> several hundred thousand people were still in tahrir square, some immediately started the evening prayer.

plenty just cheered and danced instead. this revolution has been supported by all kinds of egyptians. secular, atheists, christians, as well as muslims. power has been handed to the army. the military has been at the heart of the regime they hate. they want it now to deliver them a democracy led by civilians. >> i just hope it's a civil state. it becomes a civil state. and the army takes us to democracy. and we've been here every single day. and today we wanted to see this historic moment. he will read about this in books when he grows up. >> they've always said who controls tahrir square controls cairo. tonight they feel all of egypt belongs to them. this morning, the exhaustion was showing among the protesters at the state's television and radio

center, about half a mile from tahrir square. the new arrivals kept it going, though. waving shoes has become a universal sign of contempt for leaders in arab countries. the army had the building pevly defended, but -- heavily defended, but the protesters were allowed to gather on their side of the wire. they paralyzed the center of cairo, but their message is still not getting through to the regime. the challenge today is to keep the pressure up on president mubarak and to increase it if they can. the noon prayer is going to start in a couple of minutes. the sermon said, you are in the heart of the battle now. we must change the regime that never listens. the soldiers prayed alongside them. the protests here meant the demonstrations were spreading and they cut the building off, depriving the regime of yet

another of the tools that is used to control the people. then in late afternoon in jammed tahrir square, some signs of movement. there's an important announcement coming from the president. then an almost perfect silence around the speakers. but it was another anticlimax. the news said that president mubarak had left the red sea resort. but shortly afterwards, omar suleiman, the vice president, made the announcement they wanted to hear. >> president hosni mubarak has decided to step down as the president of the republic. i have interrupted the high town -- i have instructed the high

council of the armed forces to control the country. my god help us. >> 30 seconds on television, after president mubarak's 30 years of rule. and the party began. egypt brutalized and stagnating under president mubarak has regained its position as the leader of the arab world. thanks to its people. >> the fall of president mubarak is a molt of great historical significance, not just for egypt, but for this entire region. in just over two weeks, the people have taken on a brutal police state vrk overthrown an authoritarian leader, who appeared to be in control. their achievements will change the middle east. >> they're feeling very good about the future, but it might not be easy. egyptians have won the first battle. now they want to change the system that sustained president

mubarak. tonight, they deserve their celebration. tomorrow, the hard work starts again. jeremy bowen, "bbc news," cairo. >> and i've been talking to the bbc's arabic service. i asked him what happened next. >> i'm told this is the reaction of one of dozens of egyptians i met in that ree square. many -- tahrir square. many people started moving back home after up to 18 days protesting and settling in tahrir square, which has become the epicenter of the anti-mubarak protests, as a matter of fact. and the main goal has now been achieved, that they toppled president hosni mubarak after 30 years in power. >> but this transition is only just beginning, as president obama has said. they can't just relax now, can they? they've got to keep this going.

>> yes. but the first must go, and it has been achieved. they are starting early in the morning a cleanup operation. we are going to rebuild our country and the economy is completely in tetters. but there are definitely challenges lying ahead. the opposition is sharply divided. they need to unify the ranks to see what's going on and what lies beneath. the army reassured the protesters and the egyptians that it guarantees and ardently a transition of power. but there are some suspicions and mistrust in the army still. they fear marshall law. they fear military regime, another military regime. president hosni mubarak was a former general himself.

the deputy of the former president, of course, was an army general himself. so there are some concerns on some things. and so it remains to be seen, as a matter of fact. >> in washington, president obama said the egyptian people had made clear that nothing less than genuine democracy would carry the day. >> there are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. this is one of those moments. this is one of those times. the people of egypt have spoken. their voices have been heard. and egypt will never be the same. by stepping down, president mubarak responded to the egyptian people's hunger for change. but this is not the end of egypt's transition. it's a beginning.

i'm sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered. but i am confident that the people of egypt can find the answers and do so peacefully, constructively, and in the spirit of unity that has defined these last few weeks. >> with me here in the studio, a lecturer in middle east politics at london metropolitan university. welcome to our studios. in terms of the region, what is happening in egypt? does that make the rest of the region unstable? >> absolutely. e -- egypt -- from another angle, tunisia had been in revolution before egypt. however, it did not affect too much. egypt is about 82, 85 million.

egypt has the canal, the oil industry. so it has some characteristics of other countries. the pressure that we can do anything. they demonstrate about human rights to president mubarak. so america was behind what was happening from the protesters. so what's happening in egypt now is a signal for the other countries. measures in order to avoid what happened here. >> and given what you just said there, if that region is that

unstable, where do you think israel comes into play? should they be concerned about all of this? >> i don't think so. there is a hatred within the people. the government has -- between egypt and israel and between jordan and israel. but even the fear of the muslims -- or other islamic movements, like what happened in hamas and gaza. they said earlier, you can nominate the president in the election coming in september. they are not going to be the majority, but their power in the country is not more than 20%.

they started to demonstrate, so in this case, the time is now. but democracy, it's very good to maybe revise some items. to change that. it's not like all the discussion. but to improve or to make like the -- to make egypt effective. so this may be the fear of israel from that. >> many thanks for coming in. and this is "bbc news." still ahead, people power. how a mass movement then brought down an authoritarian leader in just 18 days. well, as we know, new technology played a huge role in egypt's

uprising. over the past few weeks, the bbc has been inundated with video footage as the crisis unfolded. in the last few hours, many people have been expressing their response online to president mubarak standing down. dominic cain with this report. >> joy. the realization for egyptians that the regime they wanted ousted had finally gone. these scenes of the celebrations in cairo were filmed by a viewer in the jubilation. very many ordinary people have been getting in touch with the bbc to express their feelings. he said, after 30 years of repression, i never imagined this day would come. i'm 19, so i've never known any other president. describing the scenes in tahrir square, nora said everyone is jumping around and chanting. today is for celebration. tomorrow is for thinking about what comes next.

we want the army to be in charge just for the transition of power. but some people are really worried. i hoped for a peaceful transition which followed the law. those celebrating now should stop treating it there are those who aren't happy. one said, it's very sad news, but i'm not surprised. these people chanting and chanting in the streets will soon find out the high price we have to pay. be that as it may, the egyptian army has promised a peaceful transition to a civilian administration. its people will be watching very closely. dominic cain , "bbc news." rr there is more on our website, do take a look.

>> and you're with "bbc news." once again, our headlines. the president of egypt he or she he or she has resigned after more than two weeks of mass protest against his authoritarian rule. president obama has welcomed mr. must be must be's resignation, describing it as just the beginning of egypt's transition to democracy. now we are joined from cairo. welcome to "bbc news." how will all this change your life? >> absolutely. it will change my future, my country's future. it has really opened doors for me. i didn't even imagine that all this could happen to me right now, this moment. i just graduated american university in cairo in december,

and i was pretty much unemployed, jobless, contemplating, what am i going to do with my life? being an activist really doesn't pay. and now i have so many opportunities and i'm so looking forward to it. >> you've studied political things there. are you confident there will be free and fair elections? >> yes. i think the egyptian people, we all have proved that we deserve democracy. we are ready for democracy. and for the first time, we will choose our ruler. and it's truly amazing. and life-changing. >> but how is that democracy that you're hoping for going to fit in with the position of the military at the moment? their financial strength and the strength as an army. >> the military is only in control, not just -- i mean, not

ongoing. they're in a transition period right now, and until the constitution is reformed and the political cap is open for all factions of society to nominate themselves and really have free and fair elections, until then, the army is just pretty much overseeing the process, while not, you know, hijacking this revolution. this is not a military coup. it's mainly a popular revolution that will translate into democracy shortly. >> yes, yes, i understand that. but what i'm saying is, do you really think that the military will want to give up its hold on power? i mean, its got incredible financial institutions behind it, hasn't it? >> yes. the military is a huge part of

society because a huge part of the military are the people themselves. you go into the military amanda or thely, and -- mandatoryly, and they have sided with the people. yes, it said the words of mubarak over and over, but really, it could have confronted, you know, the protesters violently and it didn't. and i think the egyptian people have great hopes in the military. and the military themselves ensured that the legitimacy of people and this revolution will fulfill the demand of the people, which is democracy. i really don't believe that the military would hold on to this grip and let down all these people. >> gigi ibrahim in cairo. many thanks. earlier, lisa went out among

that crowd near tahrir square. >> the young soldiers are still standing out here at one of the main entrances to tahrir square. [chanting] >> they are making history tonight. they have a victory. >> i love my country. and i love the people. and i love the pyramids. i am very happy now. i am very, very, very happy. >> well, the events of these

last few hours are the combination of 18 days of protests. occasions, thugs took to streets in the name of the president. john lyon looks back on how people power won the day. >> it's been 2 1/2 weeks that have transformed egypt and maybe the world. determined protesters who defied every threat. challenging decades of authoritarian rule. i was there on that first day when young egyptians took on the rioter police and shed their fears. the police keep trying to disperse the protests and the protesters just keep pushing them back. they've used tear gas, water cannons, but the protesters throw rocks at themming the police throw the rocks back. they just come and they're coming and coming. >> i am here! i will stay.

hosni mubarak out. get out. >> the police were not going to give in that easily. three days later, they pounded the crowds. >> we'll never stop. he's definitely finished. >> a tear gas grenade just misses us. by the end of the day, the headquarters of the ruling party was ablaze. the police had fled the streets of cairo. so president mubarak sent in his fighter jets to intimidate the crowd. even more bizarrely, a cavalry charge on the demonstration from horses and camels ridden by government supporters. later that night, the toughest ordeal for the protesters.

prolonged gunfire, widely suspected to come from more of the government's paid fighters. as the demonstrators dragged away their dead and wounded, the army stood back, refusing to take sides. in a tearful interview re-energized the protest. he told of his ordeal in ghovet -- government detention. within days, the protesters pushed out from tahrir square, taking control of much of central cairo. tonight, massive celebrations. for many people, there's a feeling of liberation. for the moment, the military are running the country. will they consolidate their control, or shepherd the move to democracy that they promised? tough questions for the future, once the party is over.

john lyon, "bbc news," cairo. >> our world correspondent john simpson is in cairo, and he spoke about how important the events are in egypt. >> i think it's difficult to overstate the importance of this, not actually just for the region, although clearly it's a profound importance to the middle east and beyond. but to the world at large. this i fully believe is the 21st century's equivalent of, for instance, the revolutions in eastern europe in 1989, an old system collapsing and being shown simply not to be relevant to the world any longer. what happened here is young people, this is the internet generation. it's grown up, and expecting to have freedom of thought and not -- simply not accepting it when that freedom of thought is being prevented by an old, outdated, outmoded government.

i think that this has a real significance beyond this country. i think if i were the colonel of libya, or the president of syria, or ahmadinejad of iran, i don't think i would be sleeping very well tonight. and i think all this honking and hooting in the streets would be echoing in my dreams. >> our world affairs editor john simpson there. let's bring you the scenes once again in tahrir square at the moment. here they are. it's coming up to around half past 4:00 in the morning. after a historic day during which the egyptian president hosni mubarak resigned after more than two weeks of protests against his authoritarian rule. his powerers have been taken over by the supreme council of the armed forces, which has promised to protect what it's called the legitimate demands of the people. president obama has welcomed mr. mubarak's resignation. there we are, the live pictures

from cairo. this is "bbc news." >> hello, and welcome. >> see the news unfold. get the top stories from around the globe. and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. new man's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. mcarthur foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a

wide range of companies, from small businesses, to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.