LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen.
In Cairo today, some shopkeepers opened for business, taxi drivers took to the streets and people came out of the safety of their homes. These modest signs of normality broke through as demonstrators still maintained their vigils and the government held unprecedented talks with opposition groups that have long been banned from openly participating in Egyptian politics.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro has been out in the city today, and Lourdes, the big news is the first meeting between the government and opposition groups. What do you know about the meeting, who was there?
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, you're exactly right, Liane. Unprecedented is the word. The banned Muslim Brotherhood, which really has been a banned party here since the 1950s was represented, as were other opposition groups. They met with Omar Suleiman, the newly-appointed vice president. And those meetings went on for quite some time.
And then the government released a statement saying that they had made some serious concessions. Among them joint committee to oversee democratic reforms, political prisoners will be reviewed, loose media curbs, lift the emergency law and pursue corruption among other issues.
That's what we've heard from the government. But of course there is a different thing that we're hearing from the opposition figures who were there. They say they have not agreed to anything. They say their main demand is that Hosni Mubarak must leave. They want to engage in these discussions, however, they have no deal with the government of Hosni Mubarak right now.
HANSEN: Has there been any reaction to the meeting from protesters?
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, you know, there was a press conference this afternoon by a group calling itself the Revolutionary Youth Movement. It's a group of about six disparate sort of conglomerations of people that are in the square. And they said they really didn't appreciate what went on today in these negotiations. They say their main demand is that Hosni Mubarak must go. And they don't trust the government. They believe that Omar Suleiman is basically Mubarak's right hand and nothing will change under his auspices.
And so there's a great deal of distrust. And we've seen tens of thousands of people converge on the square today. No signs that these protests are letting up anytime soon.
HANSEN: How has the protest movement evolved since it began nearly two weeks ago?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It has evolved. I mean we saw it as a real sort of grass roots movement; popular, coming up from the streets. Really, it's gained momentum and now it's become quite organized in a lot of ways.
On the one hand, the fact that they were leaderless was a benefit because it created no divisions among the disparate groups that formed part of this resistance.
On the other hand, I there is general feeling now that they need to have some sort of leadership. And so we have seen one slowly but surely evolve. But you know, there's a lot of different groups that participate in this - the Muslim Brotherhood, these youth movements and a lot of other parties as well.
And so they're trying to slowly but surely find their voice. And we are seeing divisions as that voice is being found.
HANSEN: President Mubarak has it made clear he won't run again. But do you think a democratic transformation can move forward in Egypt if he stays in power much longer?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well certainly if you asked the protesters they say absolutely not. And I think there's a real feeling that they will not give up Tahrir Square, their protest movement because they feel it is the engine that is driving this reform. They ultimately want Hosni Mubarak gone but each time the government grants a new concession I think it actually makes the protesters feel, they've told me, that they need to stay there longer and push forward more. They feel that really their protest in Tahrir Square is going be the guarantor that these reforms go forward.
HANSEN: NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Cairo. Lourdes, thank you very much.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.