A child holds an Egyptian flag during a demonstration by Egyptian students and residents in the Squires plaza seeking to gather signatures for a petition calling for the support of demonstrators in Egypt.
Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — The affiliation of students not part of "Egypt Friends at Virginia Tech" has been made more clear.
Students braved the cold Friday afternoon to raise awareness and support for the Egyptians protesting President Mubarak's 30-year rule.
The students protested the Egyptian government's actions against protesters, including the use of martial law and a communications blackout.
The group collected signatures from both members and non members for a petition at the Graduate Life Center Plaza.
“All lines of communication have been cut with Egypt, there is no Internet, there are no phones, and media has been banned from the streets,” said Aly Tawfik, a civil engineering doctoral candidate, as he handed a petition to a group of students.
“The last thing we heard is that they enforced martial law, tanks have been released into the streets,” Tawfik said.
The group’s petition called for the U.S. government to stand by the Egyptian people, and the group plans to send the petition to the White House and the United Nations.
Tawfik, who had returned from Egypt three weeks ago, said the situation on the ground “was really bad.”
“I was told horrific stories,” Tawfik said. Some of the signs had recent photographs taken on the streets of Egypt.
“Can you see that picture?” Tawfik said, pointing to a photo of a man being dragged in the street. “That's a journalist. And that's how they treat journalists, so imagine what they do with the regular people.”
The protesters claimed Egypt’s democracy was a facade.
“They claim we have an elected government, but if you try to vote for the opposition they won't let you vote,” Tawfik said. “They forge the elections so only their party wins, and they form a government from that party. This is how it has been for 30 years.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a statement Wednesday urging the Egyptian government to deescalate the situation and give the people more rights.
Egyptian students at Virginia Tech are asking the U.S. government to do more to help.
“The U.S. can have a lot of power over the Egyptian government,” Saleh said. “They give billions of dollars to the Egyptian government for aid. I think they have more power to push towards democracy, and I don't know why they aren't doing that.”
A version of this article appeared in the Jan 29 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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well what do you expect with an arab government?
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What the Current Administration doesn't know is that if President Obama DOESNOT stick with the civilians many American Arabs (whether Muslims or Christians) will not vote for him in 2012 and he will loose his reelection because they will not forget that he did not take a strong stand in the case of Egypt or any other Middle East country. The Arab Americans might not be a lot in this country but every vote counts and in 2008 he got a huge amount voting for him. This time will be different. They really have to think straight.
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People forget real fast when things are no longer in the news. Two years is a long time for people to forget that Obama didn't "side" with the people of Egypt. Remember how Bush "lied" to America and the world about WMDs in Iraq? He was reelected with ease; people seemed to have forgotten.
Besides, Obama can't really denounce one of our closes allies in the area because of protests. He has threatened withdrawing a billion dollars in aid if there is a violent repression and not a compromise. What more do you want from the man?
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His birth certificate would be nice.
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I suppose this will pave the way for the Muslim Brotherhood to come to power.
Hmmm, I wonder how the Muslim Brotherhood will differ from Hamas, Hezbollah, Khomeini, Omar al-Bashir, or any of the other Islamist governments currently ruling in the charmed Muslim world.
Now that's something to look forward to. I'm so glad Obama's policies of appeasement are working out so darn well.
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Most of the protesters are secular, middle class, and college age. They have mobilized through ways like Facebook and Twitter, not because of the Brotherhood, who has done relatively little.
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Well since the Muslim Brotherhood was not coordinate the event on Facebook I guess they have no claim to the future power structure over there then.
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It seems that you did not read a lot or almost any thing about the movements or governments that you mentioned in your comment. Almost all of them have different ideologies and cannot be put under the general description "islamist". There are extremely big differences between Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the rest of other groups. I've dealt a lot with people in Egypt belonging to MB and never find any suspicious issues or ideas that make them different from any other regular people in the Egyptian society.
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You are correct.....I love when hippies protest something out of ignorance. Because most professors are liberals, they don't teach real history. You can look at what the US did in Iran and see that supporting the civillians vs. Hosni will lead to yet another radical muslim regime and furthermore, one of the two neighbors that recognize Israel and are at peace with them. The other being Jordan. The muslim brotherhood is in there stirring up dust so that Islamic radicalism can take over like it did in Iran...then let's see how the Egyptians feel with a leader like Ahmadinejad.
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“Can you see that picture?” Tawfik said, pointing to a photo of a man being dragged in the street. “That's a journalist. And that's how they treat journalists, so imagine what they do with the regular people.”
Just like the U.S. government did to journalists during the G20, Dem Convention, and Repub Convention.
"The protesters claimed Egypt’s democracy was a facade."
So is the U.S. "Free speech zones?" Give me a break. Obama and Clinton need to stay out of this Egypt mess. Like the federal government would tolerate Americans in the street protesting. Our government tear-gases and uses sound cannons on protesters too.
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Dont let Mubarak Regime scare you with Muslim brothers
They were small part of this.
All the Egyptians organized this and moved forward to implement it
My Egyptian brothers and sisters are there in the streets helping my country to get its freedom after 30 years.
You can help us !
Call your media and show you support for the Egyptian people who suffer now from using the worst ways to shut them down !
Call your congressmen and tell them that you dont accept the US government support to Mubarak
Our brothers and sisters die there
I suffer every day to reach my family over phone to speak to them for few minutes
Help us
We are all humans regardless of our religion or color or anything else
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May God the Almighty have mercy on these fine egyptian men and women who are fighting for their rights right now, fighting for rights that they didn't enjoy for 30 years. The US government talks day and night about freedom, yet it is supporting Mubarak the oppressor. They should understand that the Egyptians, regardless of their color or origin, are asking for Mubarak to step down...it's that simple. Mubarak is worse on his people than Saddam was, so why this double standards America ???
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I think most Americans are on the side of the Egyptian people. As for the US aid, its mostly contracts (yes, from US contractors) for the Egyptian military. Last I heard (in the news) they have the confidence of the people.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/29/egypt.military.protests/
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Some of these commentators have got to be kidding. Right?
One writes that the Muslim Brotherhood is NOT like Hamas.
I suppose he is right in the sense that the Islamist Shia state of Iran is different than the Isslamist Sunni state of Somalia.
But, come to think of it, the end result is pretty much the same: violence, repression, fear and just more Islamist madness.
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A comment that defines an ignorant!
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