Sitting during a Lebanese restaurant within the heart of the Arab community on London's Edgware Road, all eyes were mounted on a tv screen within the corner of the room; the amendment in mood palpable with groans and shouts as President Hosni Mubarak created his intentions clear.
After the speech, 22-year-old student Mohamed Ezeldin Ahmed told CNN he was bitterly disappointed by the news. "I am angry and frustrated: we tend to thought he was going however Mubarak simply does not get the message.
"He's taking part in a game with the Egyptian those that are kind and forgiving. Mubarak is attempting to form conflict between the individuals in order that they fight inside themselves: he desires civil war."
These heroes in Tahrir sq., they gave us back our humanity and gave us back our pride to travel out and say no a lot of--Azza Zaki, ex-pat protester in London
London-based make-up artist Sally Ibrahim, 23, has been protesting outside the Egyptian Embassy on a daily basis. She thought Friday would be her last day on the streets; not protesting however celebrating.
"We're extremely disappointed," she said. "But we're not progressing to stop. We're currently progressing to return to the embassy on a daily basis and continue fighting till he leaves."
It was daily of mixed emotions for the cluster, who left jubilant scenes of dancing and singing outside London's Egyptian Embassy, solely to own their hopes crushed whereas watching the much-anticipated speech.
Businesswoman Azza Zaki, 45, left Egypt 2 years ago and has been protesting outside the embassy ever since protesters flocked to Cairo's Tahrir sq. seventeen days ago.
She told CNN she felt it had been her ethical obligation to protest: "I've been living of these years rejecting what is been occurring and what is happening to my individuals. though I wasn't affected, what I saw back home was terribly inhuman, however i used to be a coward and did not speak out."
She continued: "These heroes in Tahrir sq., they gave us back our humanity and gave us back our pride to travel out and say no a lot of."
Sara Ibrahim, a 28-year-old mother of 2, took her three-year-old and one-month recent sons to Thursday's protests in London, hoping they'd witness history.
"It means that plenty to us," Ibrahim said. "Even if I take an image (of my son) and show him when he is older, he will see he was a part of history, making history. He can most likely be taught concerning the Egyptian revolution, like individuals say the French Revolution, at {college|in class|in school} or college."
Although these ex-patriot Egyptians are adamant Mubarak should go, most admit this can be simply the start of a troublesome transition amount for his or her country.
"It's time for the young, the educated individuals to improve," said 34-year-old faculty lecturer Khairy Eteiwy.
"The west shouldn't worry concerning Egypt or concerning the Muslim Brotherhood. they need an area there, however they're not the bulk by any means that. the bulk of the protesters and therefore the Egyptian individuals ... they sort of a moderate reasonably life and that they wish to follow democracy."
But as these Egyptians sipped their mint teas and started to digest the news that the protests back home had did not dislodge their president, speak turned to Friday's gathering that several of them had hoped simply minutes earlier would be a celebration.
