CAIRO/WASHINGTON: Traffic resumed and some businesses reopened hesitatingly but protesters maintained their vigil in Cairo's Tahrir Square Monday as the uprising to oust Hosni Mubarak entered its 14th day amid reports that a Google executive who went missing 10 days ago could be released. US President Barack Obama said he believed Egypt had changed forever.
Hundreds of protesters camped through the night at the public square, which has been focal point of demonstrations against President Mubarak and his 30-year uninterrupted rule. Mubarak, who has ruled since 1981, has said he is ready to quit, but not now.
Though protests were continuing at the square, the reopening of business establishments in other parts of the city brought some semblance of normalcy to the capital. Traffic in the streets too was increasing.
"There's a lot of popular public sentiment in Cairo and wider Egypt regarding what those protesters are trying to achieve but at the same time, people are trying to get back to live as normal lives as possible," said an Al Jazeera correspondent .
"But some of the shopping malls for example are still closed because they're afraid of looting, and the banks yesterday were only open for a few hours."
Protesters were upbeat after the news broke out that political activist Wael Ghonim, who is Google's top executive in the Middle East, was going to be released Monday, Wall Street Journal reported.
The protest organisers at downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square adopted him as a symbolic leader. Ghonim is considered to be part of a small group of political activists in Egypt whose online efforts helped spark the ongoing demonstrations.
"They (the authorities) told us they'll probably bring him to us, and that he will likely be escorted by security," Ghonim's brother, Hazem, was quoted as saying.
NARENDRA KUMAR NIRAJ
PGDM 2ND SEM
IIMT
Hundreds of protesters camped through the night at the public square, which has been focal point of demonstrations against President Mubarak and his 30-year uninterrupted rule. Mubarak, who has ruled since 1981, has said he is ready to quit, but not now.
Though protests were continuing at the square, the reopening of business establishments in other parts of the city brought some semblance of normalcy to the capital. Traffic in the streets too was increasing.
"There's a lot of popular public sentiment in Cairo and wider Egypt regarding what those protesters are trying to achieve but at the same time, people are trying to get back to live as normal lives as possible," said an Al Jazeera correspondent .
"But some of the shopping malls for example are still closed because they're afraid of looting, and the banks yesterday were only open for a few hours."
Protesters were upbeat after the news broke out that political activist Wael Ghonim, who is Google's top executive in the Middle East, was going to be released Monday, Wall Street Journal reported.
The protest organisers at downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square adopted him as a symbolic leader. Ghonim is considered to be part of a small group of political activists in Egypt whose online efforts helped spark the ongoing demonstrations.
"They (the authorities) told us they'll probably bring him to us, and that he will likely be escorted by security," Ghonim's brother, Hazem, was quoted as saying.
NARENDRA KUMAR NIRAJ
PGDM 2ND SEM
IIMT
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