STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
(Soundbite of demonstration)
MONTAGNE: Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities today, calling for President Hosni Mubarak to go. In the face of the protests, the government shut down the Internet. But cell phones are working, and both Google and Twitter are posting phone messages online. Here's one of them.
Unidentified Woman #1: We want the whole world to know the truth. We suffer from hunger, and the food supplies will end soon. Our people were starving before and suffering a lot, without dignity. This time it comes with dignity. So definitely we can endure.
MONTAGNE: A voice from Cairo today. Egypt's army has said it will not open fire on the protesters, and President Mubarak has authorized his new vice president to talk to the opposition about reforming the constitution.
But many in Cairo have a more immediate concern: security from looters. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson spent time with the neighborhood watch in that giant city.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: It's nighttime in the upscale Nile River island community of Zamalek, and the so-called defense committee, armed with sticks and bars, is out in force.
(Soundbite of squeaky gate)
NELSON: Hundreds of neighborhood watch members erect makeshift barricades like this metal gate. Furniture, a gutted police vehicle, and even a tall potted plant, are used to stop outsiders from coming in.
Unidentified Man: (Foreign language spoken)
Unidentified Woman #2: (Foreign language spoken)
Unidentified Man: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: The mostly male force demands to see IDs before letting strangers pass. One defense committee volunteer is 23-year-old dentist Taher Benani.
Mr. TAHER BENANI (Dentist): We're trying to keep things safe, that's it. I mean we caught a guy last night, I guess from - you know, he came across the Nile, and that's it.
NELSON: The dentist says the man had no ID and that he was acting suspiciously.
Mr. BENANI: He said he's looking for a job. He's looking for it at 3:00 a.m.? I mean come on. He had a switchblade, so...
NELSON: Benani says they turned him over to soldiers, who he says run a makeshift jail at a community club.
(Soundbite of car engine)
NELSON: Some of Zamalek's newly returned police officers race through Benani's checkpoint. He says they are probably on their way to the Nile to nab someone suspicious trying to sneak onto the island.
Fellow dentist and defense committee member Majid Samir Abdel Malek laments how scary things have become since the protests broke out last week.
Mr. MAJID SAMIRABDEL MALEK (Dentist): Egypt was very famous for stability, security. This is gone with the wind now. This is gone with the wind.
NELSON: He has cause to be afraid. Since the police fled their posts last Friday, gangs of thieves and thugs have terrorized many of Cairo's 18 million inhabitants. Hundreds of homes and shops have been burglarized. Thousands of criminals have also broken out of jail. Many here think the gangs are linked to the police or security forces. Others believe they are made up of impoverished Cairenes. Whatever the case, defense committees like this one in Zamalek are springing up all over the city.
Amin Omar, an electrical engineer who is staying with his grandmother here, says he has mixed feelings about the groups.
Mr. AMIN OMAR (Electrical Engineer): The negative thing is that of course they made a big illusion that there is a huge danger will happen to people so that everyone would stay at his house and defend his house.
NELSON: His grandmother's neighbor, Yousry Nasrallah, agrees the fear is exaggerated. He's a popular Egyptian filmmaker who is volunteering with the Zamalek defense committee. Nasrallah says the paranoia escalates with phones and Internet constantly cut off.
Mr. YOUSRY NASRALLAH (Filmmaker): I have also a feeling that a lot of this, especially in neighborhoods like this, is to create an atmosphere of terror, where people would start saying, why did we do all this? We want Mubarak back. We want repression back. Repression is judicious...
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. NASRALLAH: ...you know...
NELSON: Another thing that bothers Nasrallah is how quickly his neighbors adopted the very police practices so many here complain about. Like demanding to know people's business or asking to see their papers without cause.
Mr. NASRALLAH: I don't like that. But it's an education, again. I mean when you've been brought up in 60 years of dictatorship, where things happen that way, that's what you're taught, that's what you're brought up with.
NELSON: Still, Nasrallah believes something is happening in neighborhoods like Zamalek that Mubarak and his advisors likely weren't counting on.
Mr. NASRALLAH: I think one of the main traits of this dictatorship is to make you feel you're worthless, and I think what a lot people have discovered most people have discovered in last few days - is that they are worth something, and this cannot be taken away from them anymore, ever.
NELSON: Whether Mubarak stays or goes, Nasrallah says he's grateful for his people's newfound sense of self-worth.
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Cairo. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
