Dozens of young Egyptians ransacked the campaign office of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq overnight, hours after Hosni Mubarak, the former President, received a life sentence for failing to stop the killing of protesters during Egypt’s uprising last year.
“Tens of young Egyptians stormed into the headquarters of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq in Fayoum destroying all the contents of the headquarters including furniture and computer devices,” the state’s Al-Ahram news website said.
It was the second attack on a Shafiq campaign office in recent days. Protesters stormed his headquarters in Cairo’s Dokki district on May 28 and set fire to storage rooms, destroying campaign posters and banners.
Shafiq was the last Prime Minister of Mubarak’s Government, and his success in getting through to a second round of Egypt’s presidential election has angered opponents who see him as a symbol of a regime that they took to the streets to oust in mass protests last year.
Footage posted on Al-Ahram online showed young men destroying and burning Shafiq’s pictures and banners and others chanting: “Fayoum says Ahmed Shafiq is feloul [an Arabic word used to refer to remnant of an ousted political regime].”
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Shafiq, a former air force commander, will face the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi in a run-off on June 16-17 in a contest between the two most polarising and controversial figures in the race.
The attack came in the wake of large demonstrations by Egyptians yesterday who wanted Mubarak executed and were unhappy that he was sentenced to life in prison for his role in last year’s uprising and the acquittal of senior police officials.
After the verdict Mr Shafiq said that the verdicts proved that the new President would be unable to emulate the excesses of the old order.
“We do not have a right to comment on judicial rulings but this verdict indicates that no one is above questioning if the law requires,” he said. “Those rulings certainly disprove any claims that a presidential candidate can reproduce a ruling system that has ended.”
Mubarak, 84, who wore dark sunglasses and a beige tracksuit, had his arms folded and showed no emotion inside his caged dock. He reportedly suffered a heart attack on the journey to a prison hospital after yesterday’s historic court ruling.
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A judge sentenced Mubarak, the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be tried in person, after convicting him of ordering the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people killed in last year’s revolution.
Also given life for the killings was Habib al-Adly, the former Interior Minister, but six former police commanders were acquitted.
Corruption charges against Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal, were dropped due to the expiry of a statute of limitations and the former President was acquitted of a bribery charge.
Scuffles erupted soon after the verdicts were delivered and chants of, “Void, void” and “The people want the judiciary purged” could be heard.
By nightfall, a crowd of about 10,000 had returned to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the uprising, to vent anger over the acquittals. Similar protests went on in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Suez on the Red Sea.
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“Justice was not served,” said Ramadan Ahmed, whose son was killed on January 28, the bloodiest day of last year’s uprising. “This is a sham,” he said outside the courthouse. Protesters chanted: “A farce, a farce, this trial is a farce” and “The people want execution of the murderer.”
State TV had earlier announced that the former dictator had been taken ill in the helicopter flying him to the medical wing of Tora prison, in the Egyptian capital. Nile News, a state-owned channel, said Mubarak had a heart attack but his condition has not been officially confirmed.
Said by his doctors to be too sick to be held in a cell, he has instead been in a luxury medical suite at a military hospital during his trial.
The Muslim Brotherhood, on its official Twitter account, denounced the proceedings. “Dr Mohammed Mursi, the presidential candidate, describes the verdict as ‘a farce’ and demands a retrial with the necessary evidence for a just punishment.”
“If the police commanders are innocent,” asked Mahmud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood official, “then who killed the protesters?”
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Mubarak’s legal team have said they will appeal against the verdicts and furious prosecution lawyers said they feared he would be successful.
“We will appeal. The ruling is full of legal flaws from every angle,” Yasser Bahr, a senior member of the defence team, said.