The vigor and unrelenting passion of about 1 percent of Egypt's population attracted so much attention to a nation subjected to not only the same economic concerns as the U.S., but also police brutality and extreme political corruption.

The concentration of international media coverage and diplomatic pressure from the West wore on President Hosni Mubarak.

Little by little he offered up compromises, the protestors didn't buy it. They wanted him out. His refusal to leave only egged them on. So when Vice President Omar Suleiman announced in a speech that the military will be taking temporary control of Egypt with Mubarak resigning, they erupted in a celebration unlike any other the country has ever seen.

USA Today reported: "Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators erupted in jubilation in Tahrir Square as vice president Omar Suleiman announces that President Mubarak has resigned and called on the army to "run the affairs of the country."

At midnight, they are honking horns and dancing. There's also still lots of:

FIREWORKS

FLAG-WAVING

FIRE

Mubarak reportedly left the presidential palace Friday for the resort town Sharm el-Sheikh, a resort town on the Red Sea about 250 miles away from Cairo. No one knows if he is actually there for sure. And no one knows if he's still in contact with other government leaders. There's also questions about whether Suleiman is still considered to be vice president.

ABC News reports that a senior Egyptian official told them Mubarak's departure was intended to be symbolic gesture.

"Farewell Friday" and what some termed the "Friday of Martyrs"  kicked off with record numbers of pro-democracy protesters fanning out through Cairo, filling not only Tahrir Square but deploying in front of the state television offices, and the parliament while others vowed to march on the presidential palace. Record numbers of protesters filled the streets from early Friday morning and their momentum seemed, and turned out to be be, unstoppable.

Huge and defiant cowds, fueled by Mubarak's intransigence, flooded the streets of all the major cities and in Cairo laid peaceful siege on all major government installations.

As the pressure mounted in the streets Friday afternoon and night, the military offered no resistance or any challenges to the increasingly militant crowda of citizens filling the streets and occupying the cities.  Some officers had openly joined the protests in the middle of the day.