What spurred the protests?
On Jan. 25, tens of thousands of Egyptians turned out to protest Mubarak. The trigger was a successful wave of protests in Tunisia, where demonstrators ousted the Tunisian president on Jan. 15. News outlets reported that Egyptian protesters initially turned out carrying Tunisian flags and signs that made reference to those demonstrations.
Some of the protesters' targets were similar to some of those in Tunisia: high unemployment, skyrocketing food prices, pervasive poverty. But Egyptian protesters expressed their most vehement anger at government corruption, torture and police brutality, according to news reports. There was widespread anger over a recently renewed emergency law, which has been in place since 1981 and gives police the right to arrest people without charges, allows for prisoners to be detained indefinitely and curbs freedom of expression.