‘It needs to stop’

Photo

Hannah Patten

By Denise Dick

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A Youngstown State University student whose parents live in Egypt believes it’s time for protests to end.

Hannah Patten, 21, who is studying media communications and advertising at YSU, last spoke to her parents, who live in Cairo, on Tuesday. Since then, protesters supporting President Hosni Mubarak have staged their own demonstrations in opposition to the protesters demanding his ouster, with violence erupting between the two factions.

“It needs to stop,” she said. “I think when it turns to violence with people acting out against each other, that’s when it needs to stop. ... The country needs to get back to normal.”

There have been reports that some of the government supporters were ordered to participate.

“A lot of people have theories that the president or someone related to him is behind it,” Patten said. “It’s really escalated it.”

Mubarak, who has been in power for about 30 years, said Tuesday that he wouldn’t seek re-election in September but would oversee the transition to whomever is elected. He vowed that he wouldn’t leave the country.

“For certain people, it’s enough,” Patten said. “They’re concerned about the country as a whole and want a peaceful transition. Others say, ‘No, we want him to leave.’”

Patten is proud of those speaking against the government but wants the violence to end.

A bad economy and people’s inability to secure employment have fueled much of the anti-Mubarak unrest.

“They want the economy to get going again,” Patten said.

When protests first erupted last week, the government shut down Internet and cell-phone service. Those have since been restored.

“That’s an improvement,” she said.