Cairo: Egyptian protesters who have been camping out for 18 days in central Cairo's Tahrir Square said they will go home after the celebrations following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on Friday.
"We can finally go home!" cried Mohammed Ibrahim, 38, a protest organiser. "We have been here for 18 days waiting for him to leave, and we did it."
The protesters who took over the square have no central organisation to direct them, but several who spoke to AFP said they would spend the night there to celebrate their victory before packing up and heading home.
"Who would have thought we could finish the job in such a short time?" shouted Ahmed Zahran, as he joined hundreds of thousands who packed into Tahrir Square to celebrate Mubarak's overthrow.
"We had been so depressed and so unsure. This is the happiest moment of my life," added Zahran, a protest organiser and cyber activist. "This is the happiest day for everyone in Tahrir Square and in Egypt."
Zahran was one of an army of tech-savvy young activists who called for demonstrations on January 25, inspired by the uprising in Tunisia that forced veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali out of power after 23 years.
The protest movement in Egypt had mobilised the crowds using the Internet and social networks in a challenge to the authorities.
But on January 28, Egypt's four main Internet service providers cut off access to their customers in a bid to break the momentum of the demonstrations. It was restored five days later after the ban attracted global condemnation.
Around 23 million Egyptians have either regular or occasional access to the Internet, according to official figures, more than a quarter of the population.
"We are the Internet youth, we are the freedom youth", a group chanted, dancing and hugging in Tahrir Square.
"We will be celebrating all night. It's been a long difficult two weeks, but we did it," said Ihab Omar, a protester who has been demonstrating there since January 25.
"I have hardly seen my wife and children in over two weeks, I can't wait to go home and start our new life."
Massive nationwide protests demanding Mubarak's immediate overthrow erupted on January 25, leading briefly to clashes with police and pro-regime thugs that left at least 300 people dead and scores more injured or detained.