Egyptian revolutionary movements have called for an indefinite protest in Tahrir Square in the centre of Cairo over 'lenient' sentences handed to ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his allies, local media reported on Sunday.
Opponents of the former Mubarak regime, and also revolutionary and youth activists started to gather in Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital and in the central squares of Egypt’s largest cities on Saturday afternoon after the Cairo Criminal Court announced verdicts for Mubarak and his allies.
Several thousand demonstrators had gathered in Tahrir Square by Saturday evening, denouncing acquittal verdicts for several interior ministry officials and the life terms for Mubarak and the former interior minister, which they said were “too lenient.”
The revolutionaries said the protest should continue until the authorities met all of the “people’s demands” that included the termination of presidential elections and the formation of the presidential council from among the candidates that had gained the largest number of votes during the first round and from among independent public figures.
The protesters also urged reorganization of the country’s judicial system and the formation of revolutionary tribunals to hold trials for all the officials of the former Mubarak regime.
Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011 after an 18-day popular uprising. Over 800 people were killed during the revolution, many of them protesters shot dead by security forces.
After the sentence was announced, Mubarak, 84, had a nervous breakdown and then suffered a heart attack.
