“Either we get justice for our martyrs or we die like them,” Egyptian Revolutionaries

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets across the country to protest against the life sentence issued for Hosni Mubarak in his trial, which they say is too lenient.

“Down with military rule!” the protesters chanted in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square on Saturday, AFP reported.

“Either we get justice for our martyrs or we die like them,” said the revolutionaries, who were outraged after former dictator Hosni Mubarak and his interior minister, Habib al-Adli, were sentenced to life in prison and six police chiefs were acquitted for the murder of protesters during last year’s revolution.

Mubarak and the seven other defendants were charged with ordering the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the popular uprising that ousted the dictator on February 11, 2011.

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.

Thousands of people also protested against the verdict in Alexandria and several other Egyptian cities.

A protester in Alexandria said, “All the Egyptian people are angry with today’s verdict. Mubarak and his interior minister should have been hanged. This is very upsetting to the Egyptian people, upsetting to the protesters, and also upsetting for the people that are not protesting. This verdict is unfair.”

Meanwhile, at a press conference in Cairo on Saturday, Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi urged Egyptians to continue the revolution.

Morsi, who will face former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in a run-off election on June 16 and 17, said the demonstrators are the only ones who can guarantee a free and fair election and the transfer of power from the ruling junta, which took power after Mubarak was toppled in February 2011.

“All of us, my brothers, must realize in this period that the continuation of the revolution, and the revolutionaries’ staying put in their positions in the squares, is the only guarantee to achieve the goals,” he stated.

Later in the day, Morsi issued a statement in which he called “on the great Egyptian people to continue their civilized, peaceful revolution to achieve their goals.”