Thousands protest against Egyptian election results; Shafiq HQ set on fire
Presidential contender Ali joins Cairo protests against Mursi, Shafiq election runoff; thugs attack demonstrators in Tahrir Square after Shafiq campaign offices are ransacked
Sarah Mourad , Monday 28 May 2012
protests against results of presidential poll (Photo: Bassam El-Zoghby)
Unidentified assailants attacked protestors in Tahrir Square at midnight, Monday, after thousands gathered to demonstrate against Egypt's election results, that will see Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi face each in a runoff vote on 16 and 17 June.
Two hours earlier, unknown individuals ransacked and set fire to the former regime member's presidential campaign headquarters in Dokki, Cairo. Security forces arrested those suspected of starting the blaze. Fire trucks brought the fire under control a short while later.
During Monday afternoon, hundreds had staged protests against the electoral
outcome outside Egypt's Supreme Constitutional
Court (SCC), and the headquarters of Egypt's
Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC)
before joining Tahrir Square in the evening.Similar protests
took place across the country,including in Egypt's coastal
city of Alexandria.
Hundreds of protesters – led by Khaled Ali, a former
presidential contender and a left-wing labour lawyer –
marched to Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo en route
to Tahrir.
Many protesters were angry against the possible return of
Mubarak's last prime minister to power, and also what
they believed to be vote-rigging against Nasserist candidate
Hamdeen Sabbahi who finished in third place in the poll.
"Smash Shafiq on his head," the marchers chanted."Down with
the military rule.""The election was rigged by SPEC to preserve
the old regime," Khaled Ali told Al JazeeraMubasher TV.
"I am calling for an independent judicial commission to review
all ballots in order to confirmthat the vote was rigged for Shafiq," Ali added.
In the afternoon, outside SCC and SPEC headquarters,
protestors had demanded theenforcement of a 'disenfranchisement law' banning former regime figures like
Shafiq from returning to political life.
Application of the law – which has been endorsed by parliament
and the ruling military council but which still awaits approval
by the SCC – would exclude Mubarak's last prime minister,
by the SCC – would exclude Mubarak's last prime minister,
Ahmed Shafiq, from the presidential race.Liberal groups, for
their part, are lobbying for Nasserist presidential contender
Sabbahi to replace Shafiq in the upcoming runoffs.
Demonstrators called on Muslim Brotherhood candidate
Mohamed Mursi to ally with other presidential contenders
to unite against 'remnants' of the Mubarak regime, in a reference
to Shafiq.
Groups that endorsed Monday's demonstration outside the SCC
and SPEC headquartersincluded the RevolutionaryYouth Coalition, the Kefaya protest movement, the April 6 youth
movement and the Revolutionary Socialists.
The SPEC announced at a Monday press conference that the
Muslim Brotherhood's Mursi and Mubarak-era minister Shafiq
would face each other in next month's runoff poll.
According to the constitutional declaration, issued by the
ruling military council in the wake of last year's uprising and
approved via popular referendum, decisions made by the SPEC
cannot be appealed.
Meanwhile, thousands also marched in Alexandria on Monday
afternoon to protest the elections results.
Reports have also come in on Monday evening from a number of
governorates in the Delta region which indicated that anti-Mubarak protesters have set fire to campaign banners for the former PM Ahmed Shafiq.
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