- EGYPT
- December 15, 2014
- 17 minutes read
Egypt Revolution – 18 Days in Tahrir, 18 Months in All Liberty Squares
For 18 months, supporters of democratic legitimacy have marched in the streets of Egypt, since they turned out in June 2013 to call for an end to military rule and to uphold the values of democracy, tirelessly. They suffered brutal repression and tremendous persecution, as coup security forces attacked their peaceful rallies, aiming to kill unarmed protesters, arresting many of them every day. The raging people of Egypt have steeled their resolve to continue their Revolution, with no departure from the path of democratic change.
This reminds of the revolutionaries’ steadfastness in Tahrir Square, for 18 days, in the January (2011) Revolution – until they brought down the corrupt Mubarak regime. In that first spark of the democratic legitimacy Revolution, 1075 martyrs were killed by Mubarak security forces in 22 different governorates, while 6234 were injured.
In a report published on its (Arabic) official website, the Freedom and Justice Newspaper detailed some of the atrocities suffered by supporters of legitimacy: arbitrary arrests, indefinite detention without trial, execution without due process, and unspeakable massacres throughout this 18-month period.
The number of detainees in junta jails is more than 41,000 – men, women and children.
Students arrested
Freedom Seekers Monitor (FSM), a student rights group, announced that 213 students were killed by junta militias in the period from the July 3 (2013) military coup to November 26, 2014, while 3045 students were detained, 2087 remain incarcerated until now, including 25 female students, and 958 university students were released. FSM added that 639 students were dismissed from their universities, 323 of them permanently.
FSM further said that 71 students were suspended for a full academic year, while 13 students were suspended for two years, 147 for one academic year. Some 125 university students were evicted and forever banned from university dormitories. Another 85 such students have been evicted and banned for so-far unspecified periods, while decisions to evict and ban 91 students were nullified.
FSM pointed that its continuous monitoring of violations and atrocities found that 213 students were murdered by junta forces without due process, of whom six were killed in detention or in prison, and 22 students were murdered on campus, in addition to six female students also killed in the same 18-month period.
Bloody massacres
Since the brutal military coup on June 30 (2013), Egypt has witnessed some of the most violent and murderous massacres in modern history, not only in Egypt but in the whole world. Those were more than 10 massacres, as follows:
Bayn Al-Sarayat Massacre
Bayn Al-Sarayat massacre, which took place on July 2 (2013), one day before the coup itself, was the first massacre executed by the bloody coup commander Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. It came in response to the elected President Mohamed Morsi’s "Democratic Legitimacy Speech", in which he challenged the coup conspirators. Then, heavily-armed thugs accompanied and protected by security forces attacked supporters of constitutional legitimacy in Nahda Square and killed 23 peaceful protesters.
Republican Guard Club massacre
On July 8, 2013 coup security forces fired live bullets at demonstrators as they went down in morning prayers in front of the Republican Guard Club, killing 103 martyrs, injuring hundreds and arresting hundreds more. This incident was called the "the massacre of worshipers" or "the massacre of the Republican Guard".
The first Ramses massacre
On July 15, 2013 police forces, with the help of hired thugs and the blessing of the military, fired live bullets, birdshot and tear gas at unarmed protesters in Ramses Square (Cairo), killing 10 people, wounding dozens, and arresting about 500.
Women of Mansoura massacre
On July 20, 2013 coup security forces, with the help of a group of armed thugs, attacked peaceful protesters in Mansoura, which resulted in the deaths of 4 women, including 17-year old Hala Abu-Sheasha, and 7 men, and wounded a large number of unarmed demonstrators in an unprecedented vicious attack where women were killed in cold blood and without provocation or reason except that they simply came out to protest.
The podium (or Manasseh) massacre
On July 26, 2013 Egyptians woke up to yet another massacre, known as "the platform (Manasseh) massacre" or "the memorial massacre", where coup forces killed unarmed demonstrators in front of the Unknown Soldier Memorial, claiming the lives of 127 protesters and wounding 4,500 others.
The Port Said massacre
Two days later, coup security forces opened fire on demonstrations in Port Said, killing three peaceful protesters and wounding 29 others, and torched two whole chains of shops, bazars and supermarkets (Moemin and Otour) owned by a Salafi person in Port Said. The charred body of an unidentified person was found later in the burnt debris.
Rabaa (or Rabia) and Nahda massacres
In the worst and most brutal incident in the history of Egypt, Al-Sisi forces and militias committed inhuman massacres as they used maximum – and unjustified – force to break up the Rabaa and Nahda anti-coup protest sit-in camps on August 14, 2013.
These massacres began with heavy sniper fire deliberately targeting unarmed civilians, while military and police helicopters as well as ground forces, troops and armored vehicles fired heavy barrages of live bullets, bombs and tear gas at unarmed protesters. Moreover, Al-Sisi militias prevented ambulances from reaching the wounded, instead burning all medicines and medical tools and equipment, before they stormed the field hospital and set the whole place on fire, burning the injured alive, together the bodies of already dead protesters.
The Rabaa and Nahda massacres claimed the lives of well over 3000 unarmed protesters, including at least 2600 martyrs in Rabaa alone. More than 10,000 unarmed demonstrators were injured, and hundreds were rounded up, arrested and detained.
Mustafa Mahmoud massacres
After the Nahda Square massacre, and after the storming of the peaceful protest sit-in with bulldozers, armored vehicles and personnel carriers, Ministry of Defense special forces and Interior Ministry militias backed by heavy sniper fire, people gathered in a public square in the vicinity of Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque where thousands of demonstrators stood protesting Rabaa and Nahda massacres.
Protesters marched in a rally towards Mostafa Mahmoud Square, where they held a sit-in. At 12 midday, it was announced that there was no more room at all in the Mustafa Mahmoud field hospital: it was filled to capacity with the bodies of murdered anti-coup protesters. About 66 protesters were killed in Mustafa Mahmoud Square as coup forces violently dispersed unarmed protesters. Many more were wounded. At the time, Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Fattah, director of the Mustafa Mahmoud field hospital, announced that the number of martyrs killed by junta militias in this massacre had doubled, and the number of wounded was nearly 1,500 anti-coup protesters.
At around 4 in the afternoon, further attacks were launched by junta security forces in Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Street, near Mustafa Mahmoud Square. Protesters had been sitting quietly for hours in the square.
The second Ramses massacre
Following the Mustafa Mahmoud massacres, junta forces executed the Fateh Mosque massacre (or the second Ramses massacre): yet another horrid massacre, where army and police forces stationed on October 6 Bridge and at the Azbakia Police Department fired live bullets at demonstrators in Ramses Square Friday of Rage million-man marches. Those coup forces also rounded up all those who were in the Fateh Mosque and arrested hundreds of them, after killing 103 unarmed protesters and injuring hundreds more.
Semouha massacre
Army and police militias attacked tens of thousands of unarmed demonstrators in Semouha (Alexandria), on Friday, August 16 (2013), after the funeral of a number protesters who had been killed in Rabaa and Nahda massacres. Those junta forces opened fire on demonstrators in front of the Ali Ibn Abi-Talib mosque in Semouha, killing more than 46 unarmed demonstrators, injuring at least 200 more, and also arrested 357.
October 6 massacre
On October 6, 2013 protesters came out in large numbers in demonstrations against the bloody coup and the military junta crimes, marking the October 6 victory. Using maximum force, coup security forces attacked all these demonstrations with live bullets, birdshot and tear gas, resulting in a new massacre which killed 51 people and wounded 268, according to official figures. More than a thousand demonstrators were also arrested and detained, mostly from Dokki and Ramses squares. Those had been on their way to Tahrir Square, but were chased by the coup militias and hired thugs in side streets and viciously attacked with machine-guns and bladed weapons and prevented from reaching Tahrir Square.
Bloody referendum Massacre
The two days of the illegitimate ruinous referendum (January 14 and 15, 2014), as well as January 16, witnessed ferocious junta crimes where security forces surrounded, chased, terrorized and killed honorable anti-coup protesters. These junta forces murdered at least 12 people, arrest hundreds and injured hundreds more, as anti-coup demonstrators insisted on continuing their peaceful protests, expressing their right to boycott the sham referendum and rejection of the illegitimate constitution.
January 25, 2014 massacre
On January 24 and 25, 2014 coup militias executed a new massacre against supporters of democratic legitimacy, killing 106 peaceful protesters and wounding hundreds more.
Storming villages
Bloody coup crimes did not stop at violently breaking up demonstrations, attacking peaceful protesters, killing, wounding and arresting hundreds, in order to end those demonstrations. Military junta forces stormed towns and villages known to support constitutional legitimacy, to punish their people and spread terror so they would not go out in demonstrations condemning the coup. This added crime was committed under the pretext of "fighting terrorism". Towns and villages so violently stormed included Delga, Kerdasa, Al-Atamna, Al-Maymoun and Sinai. Moreover, more than 800 homes were stormed and ransacked in the Sinai – also under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
Killing detainees
Alkarama for Human Rights organization (based in Britain) announced that the number of dead inside places of detention since the July 3, 2013 coup – due to torture or medical negligence – was about 89 men and women.
Violations against children
In its report on violations committed in Egypt by junta senior officials against children detained on political charges, the Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms (EORF) said that since the June 30, 2013 court (until November 1, 2013) the number of minors detained in junta jails or ‘juvenile’ centers was 2,170, in addition to 370 children detained in various other places of detention.
EORF also revealed that the number of children killed in various incidents was 217, while the number of cases of torture committed against minors in detention was 948, and the number of cases of sexual violence committed against children in detention was 78 cases of rape and sexual assault.
