TRT World - World in Focus: The Rabaa Massacre Remembered скачать в хорошем качестве

TRT World - World in Focus: The Rabaa Massacre Remembered

PEACEFUL PROTEST FOR LEGITIMACY Two years of protests which began in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in 2011, ended with the Egyptian people being divided in two. Thousands of people converged on the square on June 30, 2013, calling on the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, to step down after only one year in office. And his supporters established camps in Rabaa and Nahda and launched peaceful protests to back him. The Muslim Brotherhood group, of which Morsi was a member, organized one of the largest protest camps in Egyptian history. Thousands of his followers erected in tents in the square and began living there. THE BEGINNING OF THE END Then, two days after the protests began, army general and minister of defense Abdel Fattah el-Sisi delivered a speech. He demanded the Egyptian people give him their ‘consent to battle terrorism’. Appointing Sisi to his post in August 2012, Morsi had described him as a ‘revolutionary defense minister’. But by overthrowing the winner of Egypt’s first free presidential elections, Sisi was actually destroying the Muslim Brotherhood’s political legitimacy. The Egyptian government currently lists it as an unlawful group. Sisi staged a brutal crackdown on pro-Morsi protesters, a response that has continued to this day. HUNDREDS DIED, BUT STILL REMEMBERED In an effective coup, military and police forces brutally and cruelly broke up the camps on August 14th. About 1,000 people were killed, including many women and children. Thousands of people were arrested and given harsh prison sentences. In jail, many were not allowed to see friends or relatives. Morsi has since received a death sentence, and is understood to be suffering poor health. When coup leader Sisi became president in 2014, the Egyptian dream of democracy was shot down and wrecked beyond repair. EGYPT NOW The names of Rabaa, and Nahda are now whispered in hushed voices in Egypt. Possession of a Rabaa sign or emblem is crime, as is any token of support for the Brotherhood. Left polarized, Egyptian society has gradually became less concerned with political prosperity or democracy. And crackdowns on anyone who opposes the government has stuck the last nail in the promise of freedom. he freedom promised by the January 25th revolution is dying. With former president Hosni Mubarak free, and Morsi on death-row, Sisi is controlling the country with a tighter reign on freedom than any Egyptian leader before him. Facebook:   / trtworld   Twitter:   / trtworld