Egyptian Revolution of 2013

The Egyptian Revolution of 2013 took place in July 2013 in Egypt. On 3 July 2013, General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi removed President Mohamed Morsi and replaced him with a new president. The move came after large-scale ongoing public protests in Egypt against Morsi, and a warning from the army to respond to the demands of the protesters or it would impose its own roadmap. Al-Sisi declared Adly Mansour as the interim president of Egypt. Morsi was put under house arrest and Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested. The announcement was followed by demonstrations and clashes between supporters and opponents of the coup throughout Egypt.

Wikipedia calls this a coup d'etat, but the reason the president was removed was because he had violated the constitution, reducing the independence of the courts and giving himself nearly unlimited powers. Egyptians who had elected him in a democratic election felt betrayed because they had not voted for him to become a dictator.

In addition, Morsi had promised economic reform that would improve the lives of all Egyptians, but instead focused on concentrating wealth in the hands of his cronies.

The protests against Morsi on 30 June marked the one-year anniversary of Morsi's inauguration as president. Millions of protesters across Egypt took to the streets and demanded the immediate resignation of the president. Reasons for demanding Morsi's resignation include accusations that he was increasingly authoritarian and pushing through an Islamist agenda without regard to secular opponents. The demonstrations, which had been largely peaceful, turned violent when five anti-Morsi protesters were killed in separate clashes and shootings. At the same time, supporters of Morsi staged a rally in Nasr City, a district of Cairo.

On the morning of 1 July, anti-Morsi protesters ransacked the national headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo. Protesters threw objects at windows and looted the building, making off with office equipment and documents. The Health and Population Ministry confirmed the deaths of eight people killed in clashes around the headquarters in Mokattam.[15] On 3 July, gunmen opened fire on a pro-Morsi rally, killing 16-18 people and wounding 200 others. During the same time as the anti-government protests were ongoing, there were also other smaller pro-Morsi protests.

The situation escalated to a full-blown national political and constitutional crisis, with Morsi refusing the military's demands for him to leave power and the army threatening to take over if the civilian politicians did not resolve the situation. Morsi gave a defiant speech in which he reiterated his "legitimacy" as a democratically elected president and criticised the military for taking sides in the crisis. On 3 July, the Egyptian military announced the end of Mohammed Morsi's presidency, the suspension of the constitution, and that a new presidential election will be held soon. The military appointed Chief Justice Adly Mansour as the interim president, and charged him with forming a transitional technocratic government.[20] Morsi was put under house arrest and Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested.[10] The announcement was followed by demonstrations and clashes between supporters and opponents of the coup throughout Egypt. The announcement was followed by a statement made by the Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Coptic Pope Tawadros II as well as opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who would later be appointed prime minister.

There were mixed international reactions to the events. Most of the Arab world was generally supportive or neutral, with the notable exception of the founding state of the Arab Spring, neighbouring Tunisia. Other states either condemned or expressed concern over the coup; there was also a perceived measured response from the United States. Due to the regulations of the African Union regarding the interruption of constitutional rule by a member state, Egypt was suspended. There has also been debate in the media regarding the labeling of these events. Many news sources have referred to them as a coup d'état, while some have preferred the term revolution due to it having a veneer of popular support. Similarly, some governments have refrained from using the term coup when addressing the issue.