'Mubarak has to go now'

Egyptian Mohamed Saad speaks from Alexandria about his involvement in the last 10 days of anti-government protests
Mohamed Saad
Mohamed Saad said what the protesters want is simple – democracy. Photograph: Amanda Weston Mohamed Saad

We are now into our 10th day of demonstrations. I had moved to London to live with my English wife last year, but returned home to Alexandria for the protests to help my family and friends.

On the first day, last Tuesday, I was hit with a huge stick on my feet by the police. They turned Technicolor yellow and blue. We made it clear we had come in peace, but it made no difference. All the time we chanted: "Peace, we are demonstrating in peace."

Why do we need Mubarak to step down? Because he has abused his position. Not only has he been president for 30 years, he has used emergency law throughout that time. These laws, which are only supposed to be used in a time of war, gave police the right to check you wherever and whenever they wanted. They often took people off to a secret place, and they would never be seen again. Egypt has been a police state throughout Mubarak's regime.

What we want is simple – democracy. We don't want Mubarak's son as the next president; we want free elections and the right to choose the best candidate to be president.

The mood here is positive among the young people. We feel we are doing something very great. We feel the country is now ours and that we can change anything.

In Alexandria we have had problems with the police. Last Friday the police and the army ran away from the city. After 4pm on Friday you couldn't find one police officer or soldier in the city. All the police stations were burnt down, except one in our neighbourhood. The government building also burnt down. There was nobody inside, but there were thousands outside with petrol from the cars.

With no police in the city, some people went to the shopping centres to rob everything. Jewellery shops and clothes shops, they took everything and there was a lot of fighting between the looters. Ten people went to one store to steal everything and they ended up killing each other. You can imagine all the young people in the street with the big swords and big thick sticks.

My neighbourhood, Mohram Bek, is near the prison Segn el-Hadra which holds 4,000 people. A few days ago, the prisoners were released. Nobody is sure who did it, but we believe it was people close to Mubarak, who wants to create chaos and set Egyptian against Egyptian. Now we have to protect the neighbourhood against looters and former prisoners.

On Tuesday evening Mubarak made a speech on TV and he said he will do what the people want, but a lot of people didn't believe him because he said it in 2000 and 2005. I did believe him because he seemed to be talking with such sincerity. It made sense, too – he is old, and probably doesn't have time for another period in power.

Yesterday I got up at 11am. I hadn't been to bed till 4am because I had been doing shifts guarding our streets. There are around 500 men living in our street and we are like special security. Every two hours we'd change guard. The women stay inside the house and we are on the street. We have checkpoints at the beginning, middle and end of the street and make all passing cars stop for us to check they are "clean". The night before that I didn't get to bed till 8am. We're all exhausted.

So much has happened since the start. Most of the shops are closed now. The ones still open have doubled the price for food. We have enough food at the moment, but plenty of people don't. If it stays like this for another week it will definitely erupt into civil war, and that is what Mubarak wants. And that's what happened yesterday. We did fight against each other.

There were terrifying sights. In Cairo, men on horses and camels rode into the middle of demonstrators, and hurt many people. They have come in from the neighbourhood of the pyramids, and we all believed they have been paid to do so. The story going round is that they were paid by one of Mubarak's party £100 each to ride into the crowds with their sticks. They were not dressed in any uniform.

What I do know for sure because it happened right in front of me was that people who worked in government were called on their mobile phones and told that they would be paid £100 to go on protest in support of Mubarak. Most refused to go, but some did.

The ones who went didn't have aims or dreams for a new future, they were just looking for the money. One of my friends went, and I don't think I will be able to have a relationship with him again. He didn't just sell himself, he sold us out as well. What if someone said "I'll give you £1,000 to kill your friend"? He would agree.

But Alexandria was relatively peaceful compared with Tahrir Square in Cairo. At about 2pm, I went with friends to the hospital to give blood for the injured. It was a good feeling, I'm helping people – giving blood for our people. I gave half a litre, but if they asked for more I would give more.

Although the demonstration was peaceful something horrible happened in front of me. There were three guys who were obviously plain-clothed policemen and two girls, and the girls said to them: "Mubarak is a shoe like you." To be [called] a shoe is a huge insult here. You can imagine how the men reacted. They kicked the girls to the ground, and continued kicking and punching. There was a lot of blood, and then they were taken away in a car. Nobody intervened – everybody knew if they got involved they would be arrested and anything could happen. The police shot teargas at demonstrators and we were burned with what seemed like a form of acid.

After we saw this, my friends and I went home. Because the demonstration was finished as far as we were concerned. By now the Mubarak supporters, many of whom we think were bussed in, outnumbered us. These were a mix of people – criminals, some just looking for money and some government workers.

When we do guard duty on the streets, my friends and I are carrying swords which are about three foot long. It is the first time I've ever carried a sword, and my neighbours were laughing at me and asking what I was going to do with it. Before the uprising the only people ever seen with swords were the bad guys. They asked me what am I going to do with two swords. I said I won't do anything, and if anything bad does happen I will throw them away and run away to my house.

The bad thing now is so many people have weapons. When the police stations were burnt down, people went in to steal all the guns. When things settle down I want police to check bad houses and take the weapons away from people.

We are praying that everything will end soon because we are so tired and want to sleep, and we know people are going to run short of food, etc. All we want is Mubarak to stand down. On Tuesday when Mubarak said he would stand down in a few months and wanted to make a peaceful transition to new government, I believed him. He spoke so well then, and I accepted that. But after what happened today I can't accept that. The police used helicopters and guns and acid against their own people. He has to go now.

It's 1pm now. I was on duty till 5am last night. I'm on the streets, and I wish you could see what I'm seeing. The police, the army and the people working together to save the country. This is a great sight.

We have a saying in Egypt: me and my brother against my cousin, and me and my cousin against any stranger. If people come in from outside we will be united. We don't want help from anybody outside – we don't want the Americans involved even if they are on our side. We have to sort this ourselves.

Mohamed Saad was talking to Simon Hattenstone