Since Jan. 25, citizens of Egypt have been protesting against the Egyptian government for numerous reasons such as police brutality, state of emergency laws, lack of free elections, corruption, restrictions on freedom of speech, high unemployment, low minimum wages, insufficient housing, food price inflation, and poor living conditions.

Most people in Egypt including Mohamed ElBaradei, seen as the most likely candidate for an interim presidency, believe the only objective is to call for the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak.

These protests have been the largest demonstrations seen in Egypt since the Bread Riots in 1977.

On Saturday, the Associated Press reported that Egyptian security officials have said that at least 62 people have been killed and hundreds have been wounded.

Because protesters were using social networking sites such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook to communicate with others outside of the country, the Egyptian government cut off all Internet and cellular connection throughout the country sometime between midnight and 12:30 a.m on Friday.

President Obama called on Egypt to turn the Internet back on. “I also call upon the Egyptian government to reverse the actions that they’ve taken to interfere with access to the Internet, to cell phone service and to social networks that do so much to connect people in the 21st century,” President Obama stated in a speech.

Currently, people in the United States are protesting in Washington, D.C., New York City, Boston, and San Francisco in support for family and friends in Egypt.

Citizens in San Francisco are preparing to protest later today at the Montgomery BART to UN Plaza.

According to CNN, President Obama met with his security team in Washington, D.C. At the White House, top diplomatic, security and intelligence officials gathered for two hours to review the issue in Egypt.

People who attended the briefing are: National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes; Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Robert Cardillo, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration, the White House said.

Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Margaret Scobey, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, participated by teleconference, the White House noted.