Vice President Omar Suleiman announced in a 20-second statement on Egyptian state TV that Mubarak was stepping down and handing power to the military run "the affairs of the country." The military will lead the country along with the head of the constitutional court. Mubarak, a former air force commander came to power after the 1981 assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic radicals. Throughout his rule, he showed a near obsession with stability, using rigged elections and a hated police force accused of widespread torture to ensure his control.

Celebrations broke out in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, ground zero of the protest movement, which was packed with some 250,000 protesters. They greeted the news with shouts of "Egypt is free! Egypt is free!"

Generations who care about their own beloved country.

THIS IS A MAJOR VICTORY FOR DEMOCRACY.