Egyptians Mark 2nd Anniversary of Khaled Said, Jan 25 Revolt Trigger

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets across Egypt to mark the second anniversary of Egyptian police’s killing of Khaled Said, the development which eventually sparked last year’s revolution.

On Wednesday, demonstrations were staged in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square, Said’s hometown of Alexandria, as well as the northeastern and eastern cities of Ismailia and Asyuit, AFP reported. 

On June 6, 2010, the 28-year-old was beaten by plainclothes police officers after he questioned them when they demanded to see people’s ID cards at an internet café in Alexandria’s Sidi Gaber neighborhood. They subsequently smashed his head against a marble shelf before driving off with Said in their car and returning to dump his dead body into the street outside of the café. 

His death made him the symbol of police repression and provoked last year’s nationwide popular protests that eventually deposed the country’s former dictator Hosni Mubarak. 

On Saturday, Mubarak and his former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli were sentenced to life in prison and six police chiefs were acquitted of the murder of protesters during the revolution. 

However, Mubarak and the seven other defendants were charged with ordering the killing of nearly 900 protesters. 

The verdict sparked fierce clashes between the families of the victims and security officials inside the court, while angry spectators called the court illegitimate and demanded that Mubarak be executed.