There were Egyptian flags fluttering in the chilly air. There were chants calling upon President Hosni Mubarak to resign. There were placards that read “Down With Mubarak” or “Leave and Let Live.” There were even a few singalongs of the Egyptian national anthem.
Several hundred people gathered on Saturday afternoon near the United Nations for a demonstration in support of the recent antigovernment protesters in Egypt. Participants came from New York City and beyond, buoyed, they said, by the hope that a wave of clashes taking place in Egyptian cities over the last few days might sweep Mr. Mubarak from office and usher in democratic reforms.
Many at the rally said they were originally from Egypt and that they thought Mr. Mubarak’s departure was long overdue.
“I was 14 years old when he took office,” said Khaled Dawoud, 43, a journalist from the Upper East Side. “We deserve better.”
Mr. Dawoud said that he was filled with nationalistic pride by the sight of people taking to the streets of Cairo and said the fact that large numbers of ordinary citizens were defying Mr. Mubarak’s curfew was a victory in itself.
“We defeated an oppressive police machine,” he said, identifying himself rhetorically with the protesters. “We were not afraid of the bullets.”
Some at the rally said that the United States should play a more vigorous role in encouraging the Egyptian demonstrators. Mongi Dhaouadi, the executive director of the Connecticut branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that President Obama should issue a strong statement in their support.
Tarek Badreldin, 33, an engineer from Vermont, highlighted Mr.
Mubarak’s long and cordial relationship with the United States by holding aloft a sign with pictures of American presidents since 1981, contrasted
with images of an aging Mubarak.
He was also concerned, like others interviewed, about the safety of relatives in Egypt. He juggled the sign and his cell phone as he dialed his wife, asking her to try again to reach his father in Heliopolis.
Near the end of the two-hour protest, the demonstrators sang while a group of men close to First Avenue waved a large Egyptian flag.
Nearby, Hatem Sabry, 27, said that he and his wife, Dahlia, had traveled to the
rally from Philadelphia, where he is a student at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.
“We need the U.S. and the international community to choose the Egyptian people and not the Egyptian regime,” he said.
Karen Zraick contributed reporting.
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