Cairo: An Egyptian court Wednesday cleared 13 policemen of killing protesters in a popular revolt more than a year ago, the first such verdict since another court acquitted former security chiefs of similar charges less than a week ago.
The Criminal Court in Giza, south of Cairo, said it had found the policemen not guilty of killing six people and injuring 18 others during “Friday of Anger”, the peak day in an uprising that eventually removed long-standing president Hosni Mubarak in February last year.
The ruling stunned relatives of the victims, who chanted slogans against the country’s military rulers and judiciary, vowing to “take revenge” on their own.
Another court on Saturday sentenced Mubarak and his interior minister Habib Al Adly to life in prison for complicity in the deaths of 846 protesters during the revolt.
But the court acquitted sixes of Al Adly’s aides, sparking nationwide protests.
Thousands of angry demonstrators were camping out on Wednesday for the fifth consecutive day in major squares of Egypt, protesting against the verdicts handed down in the Mubarak trial.
