Post by History Defender on Jun 23, 2015 22:20:45 GMT
The June 2013 Egyptian protests, also called June 30 Revolution, were mass protests that occurred in Egypt on 30 June 2013, marking the one-year anniversary of Mohamed Morsi's inauguration as president. The events ended with 2013 Egyptian coup d'état after millions of protesters across Egypt took to the streets and demanded the immediate resignation of the president.[23] The rallies were partly a response to Tamarod, a grassroots movement that launched a petition in April earlier that year calling for the government to step down and it claimed to have collected more than 22 million signatures. The number of protesters was estimated to be 14 million to be "the biggest protest in Egypt's history", according to military sources that claimed to have counted the numbers through helicopters that scanned the demonstrations' perimeters across the country.[23][24]
Reasons for demanding Morsi's resignation included accusations of increasing authoritarianism and his pushing through an Islamist agenda disregarding the predominantly secular opposition or the rule of law.[25][26][27] The uprising concluded seven months of protests that started when the Morsi government issued a highly controversial draft constitution that gave him sweeping unlimited powers over the state's judicial system.[28][29] The demonstrations, which had started peacefully, turned violent when the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood were stormed in Mokattam in Cairo and when 5 members of the organization were killed amid clashes. At the same time, many Morsi supporters staged a relatively smaller rally in Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Nasr City, a district of Cairo.[30] A total of 16 people were reported to have lost their lives on Sunday and approximately 200 injured as of late Tuesday during the unrest as a result of clashes between pro and anti-Morsi demonstrators, according to the state-run news agency. Another 10 people were also reported to have been killed in the cities of Alexandria, Marsa Matruh and Minya.[31][32]
On 1 July, amid the chaos the country was facing, the military delivered a nationwide TV and radio statement giving both the government and the opposition a 48-hour ultimatum to resolve the political crisis and meet the people's demands or it would intervene to restore order.[33][34] The following day, Morsi delivered an evening speech where he declared his rejection of the declaration claiming he was the elected president who represented the will of the people. The same day, another statement was released on the official Facebook page of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces titled "The Final Hours" that read: "We swear by God that we are ready to sacrifice our blood for Egypt and its people against any terrorist, extremist or fool".[31]
On the night of 3 July, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, head of the Egyptian Armed Forces, announced in a live televised address that Mohamed Morsi had been deposed and replaced by the head of the constitutional court Adly Mansour and that the constitution had been suspended.[35] Morsi was immediately detained and kept under house arrest at the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo while several other government officials and Islamist figures supporting Morsi were also arrested.[36] The move was widely deemed as a "Revolution" and it marked a turning point for the country's future and for the fate of the Muslim Brotherhood, as it was designated a terrorist group later that year in response to a bombing in Mansoura (even though Ansar Bait al-Maqdis claimed responsibility)[37] and was subjected to an unprecedented crackdown amid an ongoing Islamist unrest.[38][39] A crackdown by the military on the sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square led to the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, which Human Rights Watch says led to the deaths of 817 people in Rabaa itself and 904 people across the country by the end of August 14.[40] Ten members of the security forces were also killed.
Reasons for demanding Morsi's resignation included accusations of increasing authoritarianism and his pushing through an Islamist agenda disregarding the predominantly secular opposition or the rule of law.[25][26][27] The uprising concluded seven months of protests that started when the Morsi government issued a highly controversial draft constitution that gave him sweeping unlimited powers over the state's judicial system.[28][29] The demonstrations, which had started peacefully, turned violent when the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood were stormed in Mokattam in Cairo and when 5 members of the organization were killed amid clashes. At the same time, many Morsi supporters staged a relatively smaller rally in Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Nasr City, a district of Cairo.[30] A total of 16 people were reported to have lost their lives on Sunday and approximately 200 injured as of late Tuesday during the unrest as a result of clashes between pro and anti-Morsi demonstrators, according to the state-run news agency. Another 10 people were also reported to have been killed in the cities of Alexandria, Marsa Matruh and Minya.[31][32]
On 1 July, amid the chaos the country was facing, the military delivered a nationwide TV and radio statement giving both the government and the opposition a 48-hour ultimatum to resolve the political crisis and meet the people's demands or it would intervene to restore order.[33][34] The following day, Morsi delivered an evening speech where he declared his rejection of the declaration claiming he was the elected president who represented the will of the people. The same day, another statement was released on the official Facebook page of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces titled "The Final Hours" that read: "We swear by God that we are ready to sacrifice our blood for Egypt and its people against any terrorist, extremist or fool".[31]
On the night of 3 July, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, head of the Egyptian Armed Forces, announced in a live televised address that Mohamed Morsi had been deposed and replaced by the head of the constitutional court Adly Mansour and that the constitution had been suspended.[35] Morsi was immediately detained and kept under house arrest at the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo while several other government officials and Islamist figures supporting Morsi were also arrested.[36] The move was widely deemed as a "Revolution" and it marked a turning point for the country's future and for the fate of the Muslim Brotherhood, as it was designated a terrorist group later that year in response to a bombing in Mansoura (even though Ansar Bait al-Maqdis claimed responsibility)[37] and was subjected to an unprecedented crackdown amid an ongoing Islamist unrest.[38][39] A crackdown by the military on the sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square led to the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, which Human Rights Watch says led to the deaths of 817 people in Rabaa itself and 904 people across the country by the end of August 14.[40] Ten members of the security forces were also killed.