For one Egyptian PhD student at the University of Florida, what's going on in his home country is a step towards long-awaited freedom from oppression. He's got a lot at stake. His brother is a major force in coordinating protests in Egypt.

On Tuesday, UF PhD student, Bahaa Elgendy, watches videos posted by his brother Malek before the government crackdown, who is coordinating the lawyers' efforts, and is among the millions protesting.

"The momentum they have, now they reach a point... they will not go back, under any circumstances," said Elgendy.

Elgendy says Malek was part of today's march, their message to President Mubarak: "we see freedom is coming to Egypt, we see democracy is coming to Egypt," said Elgendy.

"In the middle east for most of the 20th century, our policy was to support authoritarian regimes in service of stability and at the cost of local popular participation, the people in the middle east don't like that," said Patricia Woods, an associate professor at UF.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights reportedly said up to 300 people have been killed in the protests. However, Elgendy says Egyptians see the growing protests as a long-awaited step towards democracy.

"He told me the amount of happiness and joy that people are feeling, it's incredible," said Elgendy.