[UPDATE] Egyptians, Egyptian Americans and others came together at Arcadia County Park in Arcadia on Saturday, February 12, celebrating the resignation of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with a party that drew approximately 150 people.
Los Angeles-based organization Society of Egyptian Americans (SEA) organized the event, held two days following Mubarak’s departure.
“Looking at the spirit of those young people in Tahrir, in Egypt, [it was] very inspiring,” said SEA president Suliman Suliman on Saturday, speaking about those in Egypt who, from January 25 until February 12, staged mass protests, demanding a democratic government in lieu of Mubarak’s 30-year dictatorial regime. Demonstrators in Egypt persevered despite violent resistance from police and supporters of Mubarak and state television reports that aimed to anti-Mubarak movement as destabilizing for the region.
Mirvat El Jazaz, a store manager at vintage clothing chain Out of the Closet, attended on Saturday, and led nationalistic Egypt chants over upbeat Arabic music playing from speakers near rows of picnic tables decorated with Egyptian flags. In an interview, she expressed sadness about the hundreds who died in Egypt during the demonstrations there.
“It broke my heart,” she said.
Many who attended the party on Saturday had participated in rallies the previous two weekends around Los Angeles, at the Federal Building and outside the Egyptian consulate, in solidarity with the protests in Egypt, including Amr Elshennawy, a 24-year old software engineer who was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Cairo and returned to California two years ago. On Saturday, Elshennawy walked around the park, his face beaming, with an Egyptian flag wrapped around him like a cape.
“I felt great,” said Elshennawy, describing the experience of watching the news about Mubarak’s resignation. “He finally had to listen to the people and step down…and that’s the first step…towards freedom” for the Egyptian people.
People of all ages turned out on Saturday, and as the hot weather cooled around 4 p.m., approximately fifty men went to a grassy area, formed two rows and prayed, while many women, most of them with their heads covered, sat at the picnic tables around plates as Arabic food and chatted, and the sound of the children playing a few feet away on moon bounces filled the air.
Rachel Tice, who works in film, was at the party, and, like many others, participated in the recent rallies in Los Angeles.
“When I woke up on Friday morning and read the news, I was extremely elated and very happy for the Egyptian people and just very excited for the human race as a whole,” said Tice, who heard about Saturday’s party and the rallies on a Facebook page that SEA had created. “It’s an inspiration for us all.” [UPDATE]
On Friday, February 11, Hassan Zeenni delivered a sermon about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, which had been announced in Egypt a few hours earlier, at the Islamic Center of Southern California, a religious, educational and recreational organization near Korea Town in Los Angeles.
“It is a day of celebration,” said Zeenni, a board member at ICSC.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Egypt have protested against Mubarak’s regime for the past seventeen days. Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Mubarak’s resignation on Friday, ending Mubarak’s 30-year-long presidency.
Zeenni, whose speech was publicized on the ICSC website under a post entitled, “Congratulating the Egyptians for their Liberation,” said that people need to continue to be engaged with Middle East issues and to support the “voiceless.”
Egyptians and Egyptian Americans, including Hesham Morsy, a graphics designer in Los Angeles, were in attendance at ICSC on Friday.
Morsy, who wore an Egyptian athletic jersey, had chanted and expressed his support for anti-Mubarak Egyptians during recent rallies in Los Angeles, and has been in contact with his family in Egypt during the different stages of the revolt there. He called Mubarak’s decision to leave a “victory” for Egyptians and Egyptian Americans.
Nora Idris, a 24-year-old graduate student, whose mother was born in Cairo, was also ecstatic about Mubarak’s departure, saying she is “really happy and excited that he’s finally stepping down.”
Watch below for more interviews with Egyptians and Egyptian Americans at the Islamic Center of Southern California on February 11.
