LI Egyptians pray for victims of clashes

With the streets of their homeland a battleground, several hundred Egyptians on Long Island gathered Friday to pray for victims of the political upheaval and demand that Hosni Mubarak step down as the country's authoritarian president.

"He has to go," Muhammad Khan, 58, a doctor from Lindenhurst, said as he stood inside the Islamic Center of Melville, the only predominantly Egyptian mosque on Long Island. The protests in Egypt represent "a phenomenon that is going to go all over the world against dictators."

Hussein Ibrahim, 70, a psychotherapist from Floral Park, said Mubarak "should look to U.S. history" and resign the way Richard Nixon did in 1974 when he realized continuing as president was untenable.

Many of the mosque's faithful said they are glued to televisions or the Internet, following events.

Marwah Ibrahem, 21, of Dix Hills, a student at Stony Brook University, said she felt "ambivalent" about the uprising. While she abhors the violence - she called the pro-democracy demonstrators killed in the conflict "martyrs" - she is exhilarated at the thought of Mubarak leaving.

"I hope it will be a democracy some day," she said. "It's hard to watch our families suffer. But the cause they are fighting for is a just one."

Dina Fahmy, 44, also of Dix Hills, said she feared for her relatives' lives in Cairo and Alexandria after the police vanished and pro-Mubarak thugs started rampaging through the streets. "I literally thought they were going to get killed in their homes," she said. "It was very scary."

Many in the crowd said they were glad the Obama administration is pressing Mubarak to quit, but that the United States should do more. They also generally thought a transitional, coalition government followed by free elections would be the best route to democracy.

While most condemned Mubarak, some also said he'd done good things for Egypt, mainly at the start of his three-decade reign. Ibrahim noted that Mubarak increased the number of universities.

After prayer services, the crowd moved outside, where speakers took turns reading a statement that said in part, "We all watched in dismay and horror" as pro-Mubarak thugs attacked pro-democracy protesters. The transition to democracy "needs to start now."