>> egyptians learned that the rule by hosni mubarak is over. >> egypt has been born anew,

that's how one opposition politician has described the euphoria now sweeping the country. we're looking at live pictures right now from cairo. after 30 years at the head of an authoritarian state, president hosni mubarak has been forced out of office by the popular will of the people of egypt who have taken to the streets in millions over the past 18 days. his resignation was announced on state television a couple of hours ago by his deputy. more than a million people are gathered in cairo's central ta hir square celebrating the successno carrier

>> this is our moment, we young people will build a better

power. he was reportedly flown out by this helicopter. as president, the country's future lies in the hands of the military, but that isn't dampening the mood across egypt. in a matter of moments, the mass protests turned into a sea of jubilation, celebrating the victory of people power. >> we go right now to that party in liberation square and our coordinate. kareem, what's the mood? can it get any m me celebratory?

>> no, i think it cannot get any better than that. this is an unbelievable scene. people are like, yeah. i don't know, the word celebration is not enough. i just saw there's this huge tank standing in the middle of the street and i don't know 100 to 150 people standing on the tank jumping up and down and this heavy piece of mental -- metal is moving up and down, soldiers standing in front of the tank and people coming in and kissing them. absolutely amazing scene here in cairo. it's not like a million people on the street, it's millions of people in the street. let's say one million people stayed at home, there are at least 60 million people on the street right now. everything is blocked. the people stopped their cars anywhere, on the bridge, just walking towards downtown and the

square itself, of course, already filled up and it's -- you can hear what's going on around me. you can hear the drums, honking the horns, people moving and singing and jubilation. 30 years of mubarak is gone. it's like if you put a rock away from the heart of the people this hour, this night does belong to the people of egypt. we are looking for some clarity in a number of areas, namely, who's running the country right now? >> well, it's the military council, the same military council that met yesterday. it's the highest military leadership that's in charge. the interesting thing is, really, what are they going to do? there is news out now, it's not confirmed but arabic stations are saying they're going to stop emergency law and dissolve the

parliament, they're going to dissolve the constitution and it's going to be a new constitution. they're going to go for organizing free and fair elections, that is what they're most likely going to say in the next declaration, which is what is being reported. the important thing, of course, is are they going to get into a dialogue with the demonstrators, with the opposition because that is the important thing to see. the military can do two things now, they can either try to defend their privileges, try to keep as much as the old system and bring it back -- >> kareem, please stand by. we're going live to president obama who is making a statement. >> 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 thatas defined

these last few weeks. for gyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day. the military has served patriotically and responsibly as a caretaker to the state and will have to ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the egyptian people, which means protecting the rights of the egyptian citizens, lifting the emergency law, reviving the constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free. above all, this transition must bring all of egypt's voices to the table. for the spirit of peaceful protests and perseverance that the egyptian people have shown can serve as a powerful wind at

the back of this change. the united states will continue to be a friend and partner to egypt. we stand ready to provide whatever assistance is necessary and asked for to pursue a credible transition to a democracy. i'm also confident that the same ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit that the young people of egypt have shown in recent days can be harnessed to create new opportunities, jobs and businesses that allow the extraordinary potential of this generation to take flight. and i know that a democratic egypt can advance its role of responsible leadership not only in the region, but around the world. egypt has played a pivotal role in human history for over 6,000 years but over the last few weeks, the wheel of history turned at a blinding pace, as the egyptian people demanded their universal rights.

it's our mothers and fathers carrying their children on theii shoulders to show them what true freedom might look like. we saw young egyptians say, for the first time in my life, i really count, my voice is heard. even though i'm only one person, this is the way real democracy works. we saw protestors chant, we are peaceful. again and again. we saw military that would not fire bullets at the people they were sworn to protect. and we saw doctors and nurses rushing into the streets to care for those who were wounded, volunteers checking protestors to ensure they were unarmed. we saw people of faith praying together and chanting, muslims,

christians, "we are one" and though we know that the strains between faiths still divide too many in this world and no single event will close that chasm immediately, these scenes remind us that we need not be defined by our differences, we can be defined by the common humanity that we share. and above all, we saw a new generation emerge, a generation that uses their own creativity and talent and technology to call for a government that represented their hopes and not their fears, a government that is responsive to their boundless aspirations. one egyptian put it simply, "most people have discovered in the last few days that they are worth something, and this cannot be taken away from them anymore, ever." this is the power of human

dignity and it can never be denied. egyptians have inspired us and they've done so by putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained by violence. in egypt, it was the moral force of nonviolence, not terrorism, not mindless killing, but nonviolence, moral force, that bent the arc of history toward justice once more and while the sights and sounds that we heard were entire egyptian, we can't help but hear the echoes of history, echoes from germans tearing down a wall, indonesian students taking to the streets, gandy gandhi leading his people to the path of justice. as martin luther king said while

celebrating the birth of a nation in ghana while trying to perfect his own, there's something in the soul that cries out for freedom. those were t t cries that came from tahrir square and the entire world has taken note. today belongs to the people of egypt and the american people are moved by these scenes in cairo and across egypt because of who we are as a people and the kind of world that we want our children to grow up in. the word tahrir means liberation. it is a word that speaks to that something in our souls that cries out for freedom and forever more it will remind us of the egyptian people, of what they did, of the things they stood for and how they changed their country and in doing so, changed the world. thank you. >> in this fast-moving evening

with the events unfolding, the celebration in tahrir square, american president obama saying that there's sometng in the human soul that cries out for freedom. he also mentioned east germany and its own revolution, peaceful revolution that brought it freedom and democracy. for more on the german reaction to the events unfolding in tahrir square and across egypt, we're joined in the studio by our political panelist, peter craven. what can you tell us about the response from rlin? >> it is interesting that president obama is mentioning east germany. that's certainly where many people here in germany, my thoughts have been going back to decades today those momentous events here in europe at that time. we talked about how outstanding

it has been that we've heard so many egyptians in the last couple of days, so many egyptians saying, we are the egyptian people, we are all egyptians, rich, poor, people in the middle, they've all been saying we are one egyptian people and it's remarkable because you will remember how the east germans came together to literally push over the berlin wall chanting at that time, we are the people, we are one people for that night and how empowering. so the comparison is apt. >> mr. obama referring to the whole world participating in this event. here in germany, analysts was pointing to the parallels to the developments in tunisia and egyptian and the collapse of communism. it is very historic but berlin has been taking a cautious approach in the past week in

spite of all the east german comparisons. what was behind that cautious approach? >> i want to mention one point. it's a word. it's israel, it's the security of israel. she said today and said earlier, i rejoice with the people of egypt but angela merkel also said that theilitary leadership in egypt must do its part to uphold peace in the region. she said we expect the future egyptian government to continue to keep the peace in the middle east and that agreements made with israel are respected. she is referring back to 1979, the peace treaty signed by anwar san antonio sadat -- anwar sadat. the hope now is of course that that relationship between egypt and israel will be maintained. >> israel being key to german foreign policy but also the palestinians playing a role

there, germany wanting to be seen as an honest broker there, as well. >> germany has a very good reputation in the middle east. the primacy of israeli security has been the cornerstone of german foreign policy. >> you're watching our special coverage of the historic events in egypt. after 30 years of rule, hosni mubarak has relinquished his hold on power and handed over control of the country to the military. the announcement was made by the country's vice president, omar suleiman, on egyptian television. he said hosni mubarak decided to leave the position of the presidency and mubarak's last deed was to hand over control of the higher military council, consisting of egypt's top generals, considered to be the most powerful body in the country. that announcement has unleashed a wave of euphoria across the nation. many of the protestors have been

camped out so they were looking forward to simply going home. stay with us.

>> welcome back. you're watching dw-tv's special coverage of the historic events in egypt today. after 30 years of rule, hosni mubarak has relinquished power and handed over control to the country's military. the announcement unleashed a wave of euphoria across the nation. many of the protestors have have been camped out now for 18 days said they were relieved and looking forward to finally going home now that their demand that hosni mubarak resign has been met. the military council says it will make a statement shortly to make as it begins the process of change in egypt. we're joined on the line by our

correspondent. we just heard from president barack obama. what do you think about the president's statements about the developments in egypt? >> i think it was a very good speech, not only that it came across as a very emotional speech but i think he paid respect, he paid respect to this people on the square, he paid respect to the young people who took the things in their own hands and are now creating this new egypt. i think it is a speech that will be listened very well to because people are very careful here. they're always scared about the americans. so many politics in the middle east. that was a speech made on equal footing. he just basically paid respect to the people who did this revolution here in egypt and i think this is a good beginning for a new relationship with the americans and the egyptian

people because of course the americans have things to make up because the americans were one of the main supporters of hosni mubarak so this was a good speech for kind of turning the page, basically, turning it over to a completely new different kind of people who are hopefully going to run this country now. >> barack obama said egyptians have every right to be proud, that this hour belongs to them. is there a new sense of national pride? are you sensing that in the country? >> very, very strong sense of national p pde. it's interesting. the last two or three weeks how, like, the language of patriotism took over from the language of religion. very interesting how people changed their language. now egyptian patriotism is really on top. it's like people are just -- i cannot explain to you how proud they are about what they did. they could not believe that they will ever be able to do

something like this by just coming together peacefully on the street and removing mubarak. they were scared for so many years from this police state, they were scared to end up in one of the police stations being tortured. there was a big fear here in egypt and they threw this fear away in the last weeks, even when thugs of mubarak tried to attack the square. the youngsters just lost their fear and stood their ground. this is why they are so incredible proud right now and why this feeling of patriotism is taking over right now. >> it's somewhat reminiscent of the 1950's and 1960's and what i'm hearing from you, is there the feeling, then, especially among young people, that we can export this, that democracy can now spread to places like saudi arabia, for example? >> the egyptians, of course,

first hope that democracy is spreading in their own country. they're not done yet. that's one of the main issues now. it's one of the fights now because the military took over. now the struggle will be to really get the military to move into a real democratic system but we have people who are aware. once you have these people out on the street for two weeks, the tahrir square in their head right now. they know they can demand their rights and get their rights when they get together and that is this new kind of people. any government that is elected has to deal with this new awareness of people as it is also this loss of fear against any police, against any police state. so it's a completely new feeling. it's a feeling, this is also where the patriotism comes. it's the feeling that finally this country belongs to themselves, it's not the country of hosni mubarak, it's not the

country of a regime, it's not a country of several dozen corrupt businessmen. now they feel it's their own country and this is where this patriotism comes from right now. >> a new egypt unfolding. thank you so much for those insights. and emilia hammers from the free university of berlin, an analyst with us for more. an incredible event infolding. we heard kareem describe for us, a new egyptian is being born, people have a new relationship to themselves, to each are the, to the egyptian state. what do you make of this? >> i think it's very true and this is also i think what -- because that's why it's so breathtaking because you can see it in the faces and you can feel it and it's contradicting all

our -- well, perceptions we have of the arab world, of being undemocratic or people not ready or being plagued by poverty and i think what we can see here is that even though all these things might be very, very true, people are always ready for the experience of freedom, self-respect and this new pride of the democratic egyptians. i think that's very, very touching and i think it is rooted in these social movements that have been growing in the last three, four, five years. >> we just heard from president obama talking about there's something in the human soul that yearns for freedom, definitely a message that crosses party lines. what do you think of the president's speech and how will it be received in egypt and the wider arab and islamic world? >> i think he made a very good point stressing this and

indirectly commented on what mubarak was saying yesterday night when he said, well, we do not accept external interference. this is taking a part of the state propaganda of the last week that this whole rev lulings is made up by foreign powers and i think he was commenting on that saying this is an egyptian revolution and i think this is something people want to hear, they're not a puppet of america's decisions. >> do you expect america to dismantle the police state it helped set up under the mubarak regime? >> i was quite impressed by the statements of obama and i think the europeans offered a partnership for transformation, for transition. that's a good thing, i think and i think the americans could throw in their weight and their money to get that organized if the egyptians wish it. >> thank you very much for the

analysis. finally, a quick update of t momentous events that have rocked egypt and the world with reverberations throughout the middle east and around the globe. hundreds of thousands of people are celebrating in the streets of cairo and across the country at this hour after the resignation of president hosni mubarak. an estimated one million people joined in the latest protest that gathered strength after friday prayers. in the early afternoon, hosni mubarak left the presidential palace by helicopter. he is reportedly staying at a private villa in the red sea resort of sharm el-sheik. just a few hours after he left, vice president, omar suleiman, confirmed that the president had indeed stepped down. as the news spread through tahrir square, the response was unbridled jubilation. and for egypt, february 11,

2011, will be a date that goes down in history. thanks so much for joining us. captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org---