DeKALB | Thousands marched through the streets of Alexandria with chants of, “We love Egypt!” “We are Egyptians!” and “We love our country!”

This was followed by tear gas and in some cases live ammunition, all of which was happening right below the hotel balcony of DeKalb residents Toney and Donna Schultz Xidis.

This was their second trip to Egypt in hopes of further exploring the country’s architecture and sightseeing the country has to offer. While visiting the catacombs in Alexandria, Egypt, the couple was notified by their tour guide that they had to go back to the hotel because of the demonstrations.

“We didn’t think that would lead to the termination of our trip,” Toney said.

While looking over the hotel balcony, Toney and Donna observed thousands of Egyptians marching and chanting in the span of a four block radius.

“There were lots of students and whole families,” Donna said. “It was very orderly besides the police.”

Donna said she believes fear and youth amongst the police led to the violent outbreak.

“The first day (Jan. 28) was the most violent with 120 or something people killed mostly because of police overreacting and getting scared,” Donna said. “They killed some people by shooting tear gas at their heads and some used live ammo instead of bullets.”

Eventually, the Egyptian people worked out a well-coordinated system.

“Protesters would pick up the tear gas, throw them to someone on the beach and then they would throw them into the Mediterranean,” Donna said.

By Saturday morning, the police moved out and all the couple could hear were tanks moving in from the military. There were still no signs of when they could leave the hotel to return home. For Toney and Donna, the scariest part came when then-President Hosni Mubarak shut down Internet and cell phones because commercial flights could not get out. The couple explained, however, they were never fearful because of the outstanding hotel staff.

“Our tour guide always stayed with us because to him his main priority was to keep us safe and make sure we were OK,” Toney said. “It was like we became his new adopted family.”

After the third attempt by the Boston Tour Group to get the tourists out of Egypt, Toney and Donna, along with 38 other people, still could not leave Alexandria. That was when their tour guide decided to take a chance.

“The police wouldn’t provide any security but our tour guide just told us to go anyway and he drove around the people who said we couldn’t go,” Donna said.

Upon arriving at the airport, Toney and Donna witnessed pandemonium.

“Most people there were middle to upper class trying to get out,” Toney said. “It was just chaos with people standing on stools yelling in Arabic when the planes were coming in.”

After six days of turmoil and uncertainty, Toney and Donna finally made it safely back to DeKalb. Not for a second does the couple regret their trip and repeatedly praised the beauty and triumph of Egypt.

When asked if they would return, Donna replied without hesitation, “In a minute.”