The 2012–2013 Egyptian protests (sometimes called the Hirak Uprising) were part of the crisis in Egypt including the June 2013 protests, the July 2013 coup d'état, and part of the post-coup unrest. They saw varying opposition against three contiguous heads of state; namely, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Muslim Brotherhood, and the de facto ruling Egyptian Armed Forces.
Beginning with the anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, small-scale protests took place in January demanding the military to step away from power. Those protests saw at least 7 protesters killed. Increasing violence, however, began in February 2012 with the massacre of Port Said, where 74 people (72 of which being Al-Ahly fans) were killed and hundred were injured by purported fans who were armed with knives, batons and swords, while the sparse security present stood idly. The lack of police intervention and alleged political involvement sparked a number of protests. Subsequent protests in March saw 1 killed after demands for the return of football matches for El Masry after the riots last month.
Mass demonstrations in April demanding a transfer of power were attacked by the military. In June, riots and violent demonstrations against the delay of the trial of those responsible for the killings of protesters since 2011 took place and demands for the parliament to be dissolved was heard. From 16 June – 30 July, strikes and major protests against the continued lack of freedom of speech and the apparent power grab by the SCAF. Workers protested in major strikes in July against unemployment and the economic situation. Protests against the film discriminating Islam took place from 11 to 14 September. It was suppressed. Doctors and nurses protested in October for weeks demanding better wages. Protests against the resignations of members of the armed forces in August were carried out by supporters of the military.
During Morsi's presidency, the demonstrations were organized by Egyptian opposition organizations and individuals, mainly liberals, leftists, secularists and Christians. They resulted in violent clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi protesters, with dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. Demonstrators gathered outside the Heliopolis Palace, which in turn was surrounded by tanks and armored vehicles of the Republican Guard. The anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo were estimated at 200,000, while over 100,000 supporters of Morsi gathered in Cairo to show support.
A number of Morsi's advisers resigned in protest, and many judges spoke out against his actions as well. Resignations were tendered by the director of state broadcasting, Rafik Habib (Christian vice president of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party), and Zaghloul el-Balshi (general secretary of the commission overseeing the planned constitutional referendum). Seven members of Morsi's 17-member advisory panel resigned in December 2012.
On 8 December 2012, Morsi annulled his temporary decree which had expanded his presidential authority and removed judicial review of his decrees, an Islamist official said, but added that the results of the temporary declaration would still stand.
On 22 December, the Constitution supported by Morsi was approved in a national referendum by 64% of the voters, with 33% of the electorate voting. The opposition claimed fraud in the process and called for an inquiry.
On 30 June 2013, prior to the anti-government protests, Morsi supporters gathered in Rabaa el-Adaweya square to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Morsi's inauguration. In turn, tens of thousands of Morsi opponents massed in Tahrir Square and outside the Heliopolis Palace demanding Morsi's resignation and pre-term presidential elections. Demonstrations were also reported in 18 locations across Cairo and in other different locations across the country including Alexandria, El-Mahalla and cities in the Suez Canal region. Various political organizations supported the demonstrations, including the Tamarod movement formed by members of the Egyptian Movement for Change, which claimed to have collected 22 million signatures calling for Morsi's resignation.
On 3 July 2013, the Egyptian Armed Forces released a statement announcing the end of Morsi's presidency, following a 48-hour deadline demanding that Morsi "responds to the demands of the people." In the same statement, the military announced the constitution was suspended for amendments and that new elections would be held at a future date. The chief justice of the constitutional court, Adly Mansour, became head of a transitional government.
Protesting Morsi's overthrow, his supporters staged large demonstrations in the Nasr City district of Cairo, and in Alexandria, Luxor, Damanhour, and Suez. In the aftermath, massacres were perpetrated during clashes between Morsi supporters and Egyptian soldiers and security forces, including the Rabaa massacre and the Republican Guard clashes. In many cases, the Armed Forces denied shooting at demonstrators with live ammunition, contrary to claims by the Brotherhood, its supporters, and several Western media outlets.
The 2012–2013 Egyptian protests (sometimes called the Hirak Uprising) were part of the crisis in Egypt including the June 2013 protests, the July 2013 coup d'état, and part of the post-coup unrest. They saw varying opposition against three contiguous heads of state; namely, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Muslim Brotherhood, and the de facto ruling Egyptian Armed Forces.
Beginning with the anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, small-scale protests took place in January demanding the military to step away from power. Those protests saw at least 7 protesters killed. Increasing violence, however, began in February 2012 with the massacre of Port Said, where 74 people (72 of which being Al-Ahly fans) were killed and hundred were injured by purported fans who were armed with knives, batons and swords, while the sparse security present stood idly. The lack of police intervention and alleged political involvement sparked a number of protests. Subsequent protests in March saw 1 killed after demands for the return of football matches for El Masry after the riots last month.
Mass demonstrations in April demanding a transfer of power were attacked by the military. In June, riots and violent demonstrations against the delay of the trial of those responsible for the killings of protesters since 2011 took place and demands for the parliament to be dissolved was heard. From 16 June – 30 July, strikes and major protests against the continued lack of freedom of speech and the apparent power grab by the SCAF. Workers protested in major strikes in July against unemployment and the economic situation. Protests against the film discriminating Islam took place from 11 to 14 September. It was suppressed. Doctors and nurses protested in October for weeks demanding better wages. Protests against the resignations of members of the armed forces in August were carried out by supporters of the military.
During Morsi's presidency, the demonstrations were organized by Egyptian opposition organizations and individuals, mainly liberals, leftists, secularists and Christians. They resulted in violent clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi protesters, with dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. Demonstrators gathered outside the Heliopolis Palace, which in turn was surrounded by tanks and armored vehicles of the Republican Guard. The anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo were estimated at 200,000, while over 100,000 supporters of Morsi gathered in Cairo to show support.
A number of Morsi's advisers resigned in protest, and many judges spoke out against his actions as well. Resignations were tendered by the director of state broadcasting, Rafik Habib (Christian vice president of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party), and Zaghloul el-Balshi (general secretary of the commission overseeing the planned constitutional referendum). Seven members of Morsi's 17-member advisory panel resigned in December 2012.
On 8 December 2012, Morsi annulled his temporary decree which had expanded his presidential authority and removed judicial review of his decrees, an Islamist official said, but added that the results of the temporary declaration would still stand.
On 22 December, the Constitution supported by Morsi was approved in a national referendum by 64% of the voters, with 33% of the electorate voting. The opposition claimed fraud in the process and called for an inquiry.
On 30 June 2013, prior to the anti-government protests, Morsi supporters gathered in Rabaa el-Adaweya square to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Morsi's inauguration. In turn, tens of thousands of Morsi opponents massed in Tahrir Square and outside the Heliopolis Palace demanding Morsi's resignation and pre-term presidential elections. Demonstrations were also reported in 18 locations across Cairo and in other different locations across the country including Alexandria, El-Mahalla and cities in the Suez Canal region. Various political organizations supported the demonstrations, including the Tamarod movement formed by members of the Egyptian Movement for Change, which claimed to have collected 22 million signatures calling for Morsi's resignation.
On 3 July 2013, the Egyptian Armed Forces released a statement announcing the end of Morsi's presidency, following a 48-hour deadline demanding that Morsi "responds to the demands of the people." In the same statement, the military announced the constitution was suspended for amendments and that new elections would be held at a future date. The chief justice of the constitutional court, Adly Mansour, became head of a transitional government.
Protesting Morsi's overthrow, his supporters staged large demonstrations in the Nasr City district of Cairo, and in Alexandria, Luxor, Damanhour, and Suez. In the aftermath, massacres were perpetrated during clashes between Morsi supporters and Egyptian soldiers and security forces, including the Rabaa massacre and the Republican Guard clashes. In many cases, the Armed Forces denied shooting at demonstrators with live ammunition, contrary to claims by the Brotherhood, its supporters, and several Western media outlets.
Background
On 22 November 2012, Morsi issued a constitutional declaration purporting to protect the Constituent Assembly of Egypt from judicial interference. The declaration stated that it only applied until a new constitution was ratified. The declaration also required new trials for people acquitted of Mubarak-era killings of protesters, and extended the mandate of the constituent assembly by two months. Additionally, the declaration authorized Morsi to take all measures necessary to these ends.
In effect, the declaration made all constitutional declarations, laws and decrees made since Morsi assumed power immune to appeal by any individual, political or governmental body. Demonstrations both in support of and opposing Morsi broke out around Egypt after the declaration was made.
Timeline
February 2012
On 1 February 73 people were killed at a football game, in a stadium in Port Said. The riots began when fans of the team El Masry invaded the stadium, some of them carrying knives, and attacked fans of the rival team, Al Ahly. Initial media reports stated that more than 70 people were killed, with the death toll rising.
Numerous protests then took place, following this event. On Thursday, 2 February, protesters took to the streets of Cairo, enraged by the fact that the lax security had failed in preventing this tragedy from happening. Some of the protesters were heard chanting that Tantawi should be executed. The police then deployed tear gas, on the protesters.
March 2012
On 24 March, numerous protesters took to the streets, angry that the football team El-Masry was banned for two more seasons, following the riots last month. The army then attacked the protesters. At least one person was killed, and at least 18 others were injured.
April 2012
On 20 April, hundreds, possibly thousands, of protesters re-assembled in Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding that the country's military rulers transfer power to a civilian government, sooner. They also wanted the Field Marshal, and leader of Egypt's military, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, to step down.
On 14 April, several candidates in the upcoming presidential election were disqualified, for various reasons.
May
On 23–24 May, the first round of voting in the presidential elections took place. Many people went to the polls, to vote. The two candidates with the highest number of votes were the Muslim Brotherhood's replacement candidate, Mohamed Morsi, and Hosni Mubarak's last Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafik.
On 31 May, the decades-old State of Emergency was finally completely lifted, in Egypt.
June
On 2 June, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison, for complicity in the killings of protesters by police, during the revolution that eventually toppled him, in 2011. However, the judge also found him not guilty, on corruption charges. This, and the fact that he had not received the death penalty, led numerous protesters to immediately take to the streets, directly after the verdict was announced.
On 14 June, Egypt's Constitutional Court ruled that a law preventing members of Hosni Mubarak's former government from running for President was unconstitutional, therefore letting Ahmed Shafik remain in the presidential race. The court also ruled that the mainly Islamist-led Parliament, should be dissolved. Both of these verdicts also led to protests, as well.
On 16–17 June, the second round of voting in the presidential elections took place. Both candidates claimed that they had won the election, and each accused the other of cheating. The results of the presidential election were initially going to be officially announced, on Thursday, 21 June. However, this date was later postponed.
On 18 June, the Muslim Brotherhood announced that its candidate, Morsi, had won the election. On the same day, the ruling military junta, (which is scheduled to transfer power to the newly elected President on 30 June), made a statement, in which they severely restricted the powers, of the Presidency. This led to huge protests in Tahrir Square, the biggest since those that eventually ousted Mubarak, more than a year earlier. Many of the protesters were members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
On 19 June, the protests continued. Protesters rallied in Tahrir Square in Cairo, accusing the SCAF of planning a coup, and demanding that it back down.
The results of the presidential election were officially announced on 24 June 2012. It was announced that Morsi had narrowly beat Shafik, gaining 52% of the votes, while Shafik got 48% of them. Right after the announcement, Morsi supporters in Tahrir Square celebrated their victory. It has also been noted that this is the first time since Hosni Mubarak's resignation, on 11 February 2011, that celebrations of this magnitude have occurred, in Egypt. However, even after the results of the presidential election were announced, numerous protesters still remained, in Tahrir Square. They were protesting the apparent power grab by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
On 30 June 2012, Morsi was sworn in as the fifth President of Egypt. This marked the first time in Egypt's history that a civilian president has been elected by the people. In the past, all of the other presidents were either from the military or had a military background.
The inauguration of Morsi led to the third wave of the revolution.
July 2012
On 8 July, Mohamed Morsi issued a decree calling back into session the dissolved parliament for 10 July 2012. Morsi's decree also called for new parliamentary elections to be held within 60 days of the adoption of a new constitution for the country, which was tentatively expected for late 2012. A constitutional assembly selected by the erstwhile parliament had been formed and had begun the work of drafting the constitution. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) held an emergency meeting in response to the decree, but adjourned the meeting without making an announcement.
On 9 July, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's order to reconvene parliament was rejected by Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court which said after meeting on 9 July 2012 that all its rulings and decisions, including its judgement that part of the election for parliament was unconstitutional and which led in return to the assembly's dissolution by the SCAF, are final, not subject to appeal and binding for all state institutions. With its ruling the court asserted that Morsi had no right to reconvene parliament after the court ordered it dissolved in June 2012. Though the constituent assembly tasked with drawing up Egypt's new constitution was functioning, after being selected by the dissolved parliament, the SCAF also gave itself the power to choose a new assembly if the current one ran into any problems according to Al Jazeera. In its 9 July statement the military council said its constitutional declaration which gave it broad powers "came as a result of the political, legal and constitutional circumstances that the country was facing" and added that the declaration "ensures the continuity of state institutions and the [military council] until a new constitution is drafted". The military said it was "confident" that all state institutions will respect constitutional declarations.
On 10 July, Egypt's parliament convened despite dissolution, but the session was adjourned by Speaker Saad al-Katatni after the members of parliament approved Katatni's proposal that the parliament seek legal advice from the Court of Cassation on how to implement the supreme court's ruling. Thousands gathered in Cairo in protest of a ruling by Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court to freeze the decree issued by President Mohamed Morsi to reinstate the Islamist-led parliament. While the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that Morsi did not have the right to reconstitute the body, it also threatened the new president with the equivalent of contempt of court if he continued to reject its decisions. Parliament asked Egypt's Court of Cassation to essentially overrule the aspect of the Supreme Constitutional Court's decision holding that the whole Parliament must be immediately dissolved because of flaws in the electoral system used to fill a third of the seats. The Administrative Court (whose function is the review of executive actions), besides the Supreme Constitutional Court (whose function is the review of statutes) and Court of Cassation (whose function is the handling of appeals of lower court rulings) one of the three highest Courts in Egypt, was also weighing that question and has said it would issue its own ruling on 17 July.
On 11 July, Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi declared he would seek dialogue with political forces and judicial authorities to resolve the row over the dissolved parliament. He also said that he would respect Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court ruling that blocked his decision to call the nation's parliament back into session.
On 14 July, the parliament's request to examine Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court ruling that dissolved the Islamist-led assembly was rebuffed by the Court of Cassation. Egypt's highest appeals court unanimously ruled on 14 July 2012 it had no jurisdiction over the implementation of the 14 June 2012 constitutional court ruling.
On 16 July, more than 20000 workers at Egypt's largest textiles manufacturing company, which saw major strikes in 2006 and 2008, began their first day of strikes demanding an increase in wages and more government investment in their sector.
On 19 July, the Administrative Judiciary Court of the State Council put on hold all appeals against the formulation of the Constituent Assembly, tasked with drafting a new constitution, until the court decided on 30 July 2012 on suits calling for a change of the judge presiding over the case. The court was also looking at a case filed against the supplementary constitutional decree released by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces days before President Mohamed Morsi's inauguration, and another against the president's decision to bring back the People's Assembly, parliament's lower house that SCAF dissolved after the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled the parliamentary elections law unconstitutional. The court ruled lack of jurisdiction on both cases and referred the latter back to the Supreme Constitutional Court. Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi ordered to release 572 people detained by the Egyptian military in the 2011 protests, and reduced the sentence of 16 others from life sentence to seven years in jail.
On 30 July, the Administrative Judiciary Court of the State Council ruled on 30 July to postpone the case calling for the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly to 24 September, giving the assembly enough time to complete the drafting of Egypt's new constitution.
August 2012
On 2 August, the first Cabinet under President Mohamed MorsI headed by Prime Minister Hesham Kandil was sworn in.
On 5 August the 2012 Egyptian–Israeli border attack took place. Following this event Egypt's President Morsi fired his intelligence chief, the head of the military police, several Interior Ministry officials, the head of the presidential guard and the governor of North Sinai, while the President during a trip to the border region vowed with respect to the victims of the attack. "We will never, ever rest until we take revenge and bring back justice to those killed."
On 8 August, following the 2012 Egyptian–Israeli border attack Egyptian forces launched aerial strikes on militants in response to a series of attacks by masked gunmen on military checkpoints as part of a broader operation against Islamist militant organizations in the Sinai Peninsula.