The Egyptian community in Los Angeles embraced their nation’s freedom by coming together in Arcadia Park early on Saturday. Hundreds of Egyptian and Arab families gathered at the park to sing, dance and celebrate the victory of the Egyptian people against Hosni Mubarak’s oppressive reign. 

“It’s like a wedding, everyone is outside celebrating and laughing, eating, dancing, singing, we are so happy,” said Fatima Atieh, a native of Palestine who married an Egyptian man and moved to California 23 years ago. “Today is a victory day for all Arab and Egyptian people, we have to fight for our rights. These people who opened their mouths and asked for help, everyone came together to help them. And we are proud of them.”

The jubilant mood was prevalent throughout the day as children played in the park while the adults sang Egyptian songs and danced. 

Mohamed Hassani moved to California from Egypt six years ago, “They stole our future, and corrupted everything,” said Hassani, of Mubarak’s regime. “We couldn’t even think of tomorrow, because tomorrow did not belong to us, it belonged to them.”

Hassani moved his family to California give his children a better education. All throughout the day, people kept bringing up Facebook in reference to the movement of protest started by Wael Ghonim. 

Could Mubarak have ever predicted that his downfall would have happened through the use of social networking?

“You’re talking about a guy who is over 80 years old, and he’s dealing with people in their 20s,” said Hassani. “These people didn’t do anything other than use these tools available to them, and they succeeded.”

Hassani had given a speech to the gathered families at the park earlier in the day, emphasizing how they have to come together to help their nation even from the other side of the world. “We have a lot of people ready to go out to Egypt as soon as possible. We have to be there, we have to help, we have to support and provide whatever we have in our mind and our pockets,” said Hassani. 

Hassani had also urged families to start investing in the Egyptian stock market to prevent it from collapsing. “We got our freedom. Now we need to help rebuild our economy,” he said.

Hassani’s 17-year-old son Mohab, a high school student studying in Long Beach, joined in the festivities with his family at Arcadia Park. Mohab, who has adopted a gentle American drawl since moving to California in 2007, was excited by the new era of change in his native country. 

“The only reason me and my family came here was that we were looking for the American dream, looking for a better opportunity of work and having a better life,” said Mohab. “But now, we look at Egypt and it’s changed. New government is building, new society is going on, and if Egypt becomes better, I would definitely like to go back to live there.”

Mohab’s friend, 18-year-old Mustafa Tohemi, a student in Riverside who has been brought and brought up in California, was also inspired by the change.

"Hosni Mubarak has finally gone, and we're so glad about that," said Mustafa. 

For both, the use of social networking in the revolution has inspired them to make a difference. Mohab set up a Facebook page titled “Bring Mubarak to Justice for Crimes against the Egyptian people” when the protests began, posting up stories of military violence against the Egyptian people.  

“We’re taking Facebook to another level,” said Mohab enthusiastically. “We’re making new systems and new regimes by Facebook.

Both Mustafa and Mohab have found an invigorated interest in Egypt from their friends and teachers. “It’s nice how everyone has been asking about our families in Egypt, it really warms my heart,” said Mustafa. “People heard about the cutting off of the Internet, and they were really worried about my family, and I’m lucky to have friends like that,” added Mohab.

As the festivities started winding down in Arcadia Park and families helped to clean up, the crowd remained buoyant at the new era and new change for their home country. With all eyes on Egypt, the LA Egyptian community made sure to stand with their people and celebrate in their victory.

SLIDESHOW: Pictures from the celebrations in Acardia County Park.

Reach Senior Entertainment Editor Piya Sinha-Roy here, and follow her on Twitter @PiyaSRoy.