A cautious calm prevailed in Tahrir Square on Tuesday following protests that erupted after the official announcement of election results that put Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy and ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in the runoff.
Dozens of people staged a protest in the square, while others tried to organize traffic and apologized for the congestion caused by their protest.
The number of street vendors, who had been present for long weeks in the square to sell beverages and snacks, also dropped considerably.
Leftist lawyer Khaled Ali, who came in seventh in the first round of the vote, was among the protesters on Monday who expressed their rejection of the result.
Some of the protesters called for Shafiq to be barred from proceeding to the runoff. They also called for replacing him with Nasserist Hamdeen Sabbahi, who ranks third, as an icon of the 25 January revolution that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak last year.
In a statement made by his presidential campaign, Sabbahi said he is committed to peaceful protest and added that he has not called for demonstrating.
“Those who want me to be with them should stick to peaceful means. I refuse to be with those who use violence. I emphatically reject violence in protests and attacks on public property and burning the headquarters of the campaigns of other candidates,” he said.
A group of protesters stormed the campaign headquarters of Shafiq late Monday night, ransacking and burning the offices there.
Edited translation from MENA
