On Second Anniversary Of Revolution, Egypt Is 'A Nation Divided'

By Eyder Peralta

Published January 25, 2013 at 11:27 AM CST

1 of 8 — Egyptian demonstrators wave the national flag and shout slogans during a protest in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2013 in Cairo.

Egyptian demonstrators wave the national flag and shout slogans during a protest in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2013 in Cairo.

2 of 8 — An Egyptian protester shouts anti-President Morsi slogans as anti-riot forces block the entrance to the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan.25, 2013.

An Egyptian protester shouts anti-President Morsi slogans as anti-riot forces block the entrance to the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan.25, 2013.

3 of 8 — An Egyptian protester runs to throw tear gas during a protest in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2013 in Cairo.

An Egyptian protester runs to throw tear gas during a protest in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2013 in Cairo.

4 of 8 — Egyptians carry a wounded protestor during clashes with riot police in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2013.

Egyptians carry a wounded protestor during clashes with riot police in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2013.

5 of 8 — An Egyptian protester throws a rock toward riot police during a demonstration in Tahrir Square on January 25, in Cairo, Egypt.

An Egyptian protester throws a rock toward riot police during a demonstration in Tahrir Square on January 25, in Cairo, Egypt.

6 of 8 — Egyptian security forces are seen through a hold in the wall, as they throw stones at protesters in Sheikh Rayhan street, that leads to the Interior Ministry headquarters, near Tahrir Square, on January 25, 2013.

Egyptian security forces are seen through a hold in the wall, as they throw stones at protesters in Sheikh Rayhan street, that leads to the Interior Ministry headquarters, near Tahrir Square, on January 25, 2013.

7 of 8 — An Egyptian protestor throws a Molotov cocktail towards security personnel in Cairo's Sheikh Rayhan street that leads to the Interior Ministry headquarters, near Tahrir Square, on January 25, 2013.

An Egyptian protestor throws a Molotov cocktail towards security personnel in Cairo's Sheikh Rayhan street that leads to the Interior Ministry headquarters, near Tahrir Square, on January 25, 2013.

8 of 8 — Egyptian protesters hang a giant banner in the colors of Egypt's national flag on barbed wires in front of anti-riot soldiers at the entrance to the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013.

Egyptian protesters hang a giant banner in the colors of Egypt's national flag on barbed wires in front of anti-riot soldiers at the entrance to the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013.

Thousands of demonstrators are on the streets in Egypt to mark the second anniversary of the revolution that brought down the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

Reporting from Cairo, NPR's Leila Fadel says two years later what has emerged is "a nation divided."

Leila tells our Newscast unit that while there are many people on the streets, many others are at home, and it's "really unclear" which represents the majority. The country, said Leila, is split between those who want a secular government and those who want Islamist rule.

On the streets of Cairo, reports Leila, there is disappointment in the air.

"There's rage here in the square," she tells Newscast. "After two years of promises of change, of the end of corruption, of a better economy, of a better country, and they're not seeing that."

The AP reports that protests have turned violent and have left more than 100 people injured.

USA Today has a piece focusing on the disappointment on the street. But they also talk to academics, who put a more positive spin on the state of the country.

One expert told the paper that the revolutionaries haven't been able to translate the protests that brought down Mubarak into political action. But Middle East analyst Michael Wahid Hanna of the Century Foundation, a think tank in New York, tells USA Today that something fundamental did change.

"People have been mobilized politically in a way that didn't exist previously," he said. "There is a different sense of relationship between citizens and government."

Update at 8:30 p.m. ET. More Deaths Reported:

At least seven people are reportedly dead amid the protests in Egypt.

The Associated Press reports: "At least six people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in Suez, where protesters set ablaze a building that once housed the city's local government. Another person died in clashes in Ismailia, another Suez Canal city east of Cairo."

Update at 6:13 p.m. ET. Four Dead:

The AP reports that Egypt's official news agency is reporting that four people are dead in clashes in Suez Canal city.