Back from Cairo

Carl and Linda Baessler were told to quickly go up to their hotel room and lock their door, as armed guards barricaded the area with tanks and set up checkpoints.

Four days after protesters spilled onto the streets of Cairo calling for an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, someone may have thrown a Molotov cocktail near their hotel, the Baesslers were told, and it was clear that the upheaval in Egypt was quickly escalating.

“The hotel was emptying very quickly, and we learned that in a few days the hotel would be closed,” said Linda Baessler, who was touring the country with her husband. “There are still thousands of Americans who have to get out of there.”

The Baesslers, longtime Atlantic Beach residents, were among the many Americans who were told to leave the country as protesters clashed in the streets. They returned to New York on Jan. 31, after several days of uncertainty about whether they could get out of Egypt. Their daughter, Rebecca, waited for word as she watched the coverage on CNN.

“They’re a part of history now,” said Rebecca, who works at All Creatures Veterinary Hospital in Long Beach. “The thought that was going through my head — I have to admit I was crying because I was so stressed trying to find them a flight — was whether or not they would make it out.”

The Baesslers said they had no idea their long-planned trip to Egypt would include being spectators at a revolution. On Jan. 25, protesters took to the streets and called for free elections and the end of Mubarak’s three-decade rule. According to Amnesty International, thousands of people have been injured or killed during the protests since the opposition first clashed with police in Tahrir Square.

“They have seen the abuses of their government and they want a Democratic society like we have,” Linda Baessler said. “It’s really the youth that are leading this — they basically said to us, ‘We want a democracy like yours.’”