EGYPT: Security forces cordon off the campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq as investigations start into the torching of the building

Record ID: 353644

  • Title: EGYPT: Security forces cordon off the campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq as investigations start into the torching of the building
  • Date: 30th May 2012
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (MAY 29, 2012) (REUTERS) POLICEMEN STANDING OUTSIDE THE CAMPAIGN'S HEADQUARTERS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN AHMED SHAFIQ POLICE TRUCK AND SECURITY OFFICERS TORN-UP POSTERS OF SHAFIQ BURNED AND DAMAGED CHAIRS CAMPAIGN FLYERS WITH PHOTOGRAPH OF SHAFIQ LYING AMONGST EMBERS SHAFIQ FLYERS ON GROUND ARRIVAL OF THE GOVERNOR OF CAIRO, ALI ABDEL RAHMAN BROKEN
  • Embargoed: 14th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5936V6933VTZNL6AH1NAT08FY
  • Story Text: Demonstrators furious that Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister made it into the run-off for Egypt's presidential election set his campaign headquarters ablaze on Monday (May 28), underscoring the divisive outcome of the country's historic vote.
    Former air force commander Ahmed Shafiq, who has described Mubarak as a role model, will face the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in the run-off. It is a contest between the two most polarising and controversial figures in the race.
    A group of protesters broke into and vandalised Shafiq's office in the residential district of Dokki before setting it ablaze, the state news agency reported. An official in the fire service confirmed the blaze had been extinguished without causing any casualties.
    Cairo Governor Ali Abdel Rahman said the election results should be accepted.
    "What we should do is to accept the results of the elections, because we are approaching the second round, the run-off, we will move forward after we elect a president through fair and transparent elections and I think this will transfer us to another phase of stability in Egypt."
    Many analysts had predicted that a Shafiq-Mursi run-off could trigger trouble. The vote marks a ballot box struggle between a symbol of the military-based autocracy of the last six decades and one of the Islamist movements it had oppressed.
    The result is deeply disappointing to the activist movement that took to the streets on Jan. 25, 2011, triggering the mass uprising that toppled Mubarak. They had seen other candidates as more representative of their hopes for change.
    Shafiq's Campaign Organiser, Ahmed Abdel Ghany, said he saw about 400 protesters at the campaign offices, some of whom he recognised.
    "When I came here, I found them breaking the windows, but I could not do anything because I was here alone and there were many people - a large number of about four hundred people, I could have died if I tried to prevent them, but among them there were some figures I know very well."
    Shafiq has built a sizeable constituency with a law-and-order platform, convincing some he is the man to end 15 months of turbulence. Mursi's supporters believe Mursi and the Brotherhood are the best hope for reforming a corrupt state. But many Egyptians picked neither and are now left with a wrenching choice between a symbol of the past and an Islamist group that arouses deep suspicions for some.
    Mursi topped the poll with 24.3 percent of the vote, followed by Shafiq with 23.3 percent. Turnout was 46 percent, according to the official results.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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