Thousands of protesters have returned to Cairo's Tahrir Square and elsewhere, on a day when Egypt's general prosecutor said his office will be appealing against the acquittals of several police commanders who served under Hosni Mubarak, state media has said.
Mubarak, the former president who was removed by a popular uprising last year, and his former interior minister were sentenced to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of more than 800 people during a police crackdown on the protests.
Six police commanders who served under them, however, were acquitted of charges of being responsible for the killings, and five were due to be released on Sunday, state media reported. The sixth, Hassan Abdel Rahman, who was the head of the now-defunct state security apparatus, is being held pending investigation of a different case.
"The real question here, going forward, is how are these different political factions that have been represented in Tahrir Square, going to stay united in their aims. Does this turn from a spontaneous protest - an outburst against the Mubarak verdicts - into a political tool?" she said.
