Jessica Elsayed is a 17 year-old student reporter living in Alexandria, Egypt. She was born in Oakland, California to Egyptian parents and hopes to major in Journalism at Cal Berkeley.
She posted the following @yji.blogspot on Saturday 1/29/11:
"ALEXANDRIA, Egypt Its scary and exciting at the same time to be here.
"I can hear booms outside from tear gas canisters exploding.
"The police station next door caught fire last night.
"As part of a new peoples militia, men from my building are guarding us with wooden sticks or knives. One neighbor has two swords.
"The butcher down the street sharpened knives and handed them out, not out of violence but for protection.
Looters are not welcome in my neighborhood.
"Elsewhere in the city, theyve pillaged a big mall, driven off with new BMWs and attacked many jewelry stores by shattering windows and grabbing all they can.
"Its pretty intense."
In an interview she gave earlier today, Jessica stated a commonly held opinion among Egyptians that police officers are responsible for a large percentage of the looting that's going on.
She posted the following @yji.blogspot on Saturday 1/29/11:
"ALEXANDRIA, Egypt Its scary and exciting at the same time to be here.
"I can hear booms outside from tear gas canisters exploding.
"The police station next door caught fire last night.
"As part of a new peoples militia, men from my building are guarding us with wooden sticks or knives. One neighbor has two swords.
"The butcher down the street sharpened knives and handed them out, not out of violence but for protection.
Looters are not welcome in my neighborhood.
"Elsewhere in the city, theyve pillaged a big mall, driven off with new BMWs and attacked many jewelry stores by shattering windows and grabbing all they can.
"Its pretty intense."
In an interview she gave earlier today, Jessica stated a commonly held opinion among Egyptians that police officers are responsible for a large percentage of the looting that's going on.
