LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
From NPR News, this is WEEKENDS ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Guy Raz is away. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
It is now 13 days since protesters took to the streets in Egypt. In a moment, we'll go to our correspondent in Cairo for the latest on today's meeting between members of the opposition and the besieged government of Hosni Mubarak.
But first, the sounds of nearly two weeks of unrest in that country.
MICHELE NORRIS: Egyptian protesters filled the streets of Cairo and other cities today, the country's largest demonstrations in years.
(Soundbite of music)
Unidentified Man #1: (Singing in foreign language)
Mr. ADEL AL SHARIF: My children are growing. I don't know how to tell them that we've been living like this for ages.
NORRIS: They were inspired by the recent events in Tunisia.
Unidentified Man #2: We need this change.
NORRIS: The protests began peacefully, but that did not last.
(Soundbite of gunshots)
MELISSA BLOCK: It was the second day of protests against president - protesters took to the streets for the third straight day, defying...
Professor SHIBLEY TELHAMI (International Relations and Middle East Politics, University of Maryland): And what makes it more effective and harder to deal with is that it's decentralized.
ROBERT SIEGEL: Mubarak insisted he would neither quit now nor leave.
President HOSNI MUBARAK (Egypt): (Through translator) I will die on the soil of Egypt.
Ms. ROBIN ROBERTS (Anchor, "Good Morning America"): U.S. State Department started flying Americans wanting to get out of Egypt on chartered planes.
Ms. ELIZABETH PALMER (Correspondent, CBS News): Egypt's bookish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei defied the curfew to come and address the crowd.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: For a seventh night, the curfew here was broken by protesters in Tahrir Square.
Ms. CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR (Anchor, "This Week with Christiane Amanpour"): After days of allowing protesters to gather in Tahrir Square...
Unidentified Woman #1: Day eight of a possible revolution.
Ms. AMANPOUR: Today, the army is deploying more tanks and columns of foot soldiers to try to keep them out.
SIEGEL: Today in Egypt, battles raged.
Unidentified Woman #2: Day nine.
Unidentified Man #3: Pro-government demonstrators broke through the police lines into Tahrir Square.
Unidentified Man #4: The Cairo Museum has caught fire.
Mr. WOLF BLITZER (Correspondent, CNN): Fireballs are exploding in the skies over Cairo.
Unidentified Woman #3: What should President Obama do about the uprising in Egypt?
President BARACK OBAMA: Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people. And suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.
Secretary HILLARY CLINTON (U.S. Department of State): I want the Egyptian people to have the chance to chart a new future. It needs to be an orderly, peaceful transition to real democracy, not...
NORRIS: There was a big turnout today in central Cairo for what protesters dubbed departure Friday.
Mr. IBRAHIM HOUDAIBY: If he has perseverance, we have more perseverance. As sometimes in Tahrir Square says, he's over 80, we are under 30. Time is on our side. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.