BBC News with Kathy Clugston

Tens of thousands of Egyptians are gathered in Cairo and across the country to protest against the verdicts on the former President Hosni Mubarak and his

co-defendants

. In Alexandria, Egypt's second city, and in Qena, in the south, protesters demanded the execution of those charged. Protesters in Tahrir Square waved flags and chanted "Revolution, revolution". Mr Mubarak and his hated former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly were sentenced to life for complicity in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising. However, six security chiefs were

acquitted

, and Mubarak and his sons were cleared of corruption. Political groups have called for a massive turnout to denounce what they see as undue

leniency

. Our Cairo correspondent Jon Leyne assesses the trial and how it could affect the forthcoming second round of the presidential election.

A verdict that was meant to bring closure for Egypt is in danger of just reopening old wounds and dividing the country once again. It is above all a really confusing ruling: why convict the former president for ordering the killing of protesters, then acquit those further down the chain of command who logically would have had to carry out the orders. Egyptians naturally suspected conspiracy, the hand that the old regime had played, but maybe it was just where the evidence led in what was certainly a very flawed trial, so to the presidential election in two weeks' time. One candidate, former general Ahmed Shafik, has called for the verdict to be respected. The other candidate, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, has called for mass demonstrations against it.