Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo was reopened to traffic early Tuesday after a second closure last night following protests against the recent court verdict clearing ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

It was sealed-off by troops using armoured vehicles and barbed wire late Monday, even though it had only been reopened earlier that day following an earlier closure.

The square was initially closed following protests on Saturday against a court verdict to drop charges against Mubarak over the killing of protesters and acquit him of other corruption charges.

Police dispersed the protests, staged by almost three thousand demonstrators, and two people were killed in the clashes.

Tahrir is an iconic site of demonstrations in Cairo, best known for the mass protests that brought down Mubarak himself in February 2011.

Over the past three years authorities closed it off for security reasons ahead of anticipated demonstrations. The metro station located in it, Sadat, has been closed for over a year.