Background
Following theWarning
Initiatives in an attempt to resolve the tension, including foreign-backed efforts by Gulf Arab countries, the E.U. and the U.S.A., failed to yield a positive outcomes. The state authorities referenced these failures and issued the ultimatum. Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi warned ahead of the MuslimDispersal
On 14 August 2013, shortly after 7:00 am, Egyptian police moved in to disperse the camps. According to theAftermath
The violence spread across the country as people learned what had happened in Cairo and many protesters took to the streets in anger. In theState of emergency and curfew
The interim government declared a month-long state of emergency, commencing at 16:00. The right to a trial and the due process of the law were suspended. A 19:00 curfew was declared in 14 out of the 27 governorates (Casualties
On 14 August, theAttack on journalists
During the dispersal, journalists covering the event were trapped. Four of them were killed, while others were injured. Some were detained. According to theNCHR investigation
The Egyptian National Council for Human Rights's investigation blamed both the police and protestors for the incident. The investigation blamed the police for using excessive force, and the protestors for being armed. The NCHR blamed security forces for using excessive gunfire and failing to protect peaceful protestors during the crackdown on the sit-in. According to the report, gunmen inside the sit-in shot at police officers, provoking a violent response from police and an escalation in violence.Reactions
Domestic
Mostafa Hegazy, a spokesperson for Egypt's interim government, said: "We're not into the effort of dissolving anyone – or preventing anyone from being active in the public domain, but we're trying to make sure that everyone is legalised according to what the Egyptian law says..." He added that the country was facing a war waged by "terrorist forces." Interim Vice PresidentOur self-restraint will not continue. We will not accept any more attacks. We will meet with full force the attackers who want to destroy Egypt. Whoever imagines that violence will make the state and Egyptians kneel must reconsider; we will never be silent in the face of the destruction of the country. here isroom for everyone nd the security services would notconspire o take power The will of the Egyptian people is free, their will is free, they can choose whomever they want to rule them, and we are the guardians of this will. The army and the police right now are the guardians of the will of the people with regard to choosing who their leaders will be. I said previously that Egyptians if they want to change the world, they are capable of that, and I tell the Egyptian people now that if you want to build Egypt and its future, you will and you can, and you can make it 'Egypt the mother of all nations' Egypt will be as big as the world itself, with God's will.Egyptian state television stated that the protest camps had been cleared "in a highly civilised way," while the interim government released a statement praising the "brave" security forces and blaming armed protesters present in the sit-in for the loss of life. The government also called the raids necessary and said police had confiscated guns and other weapons from the camps. The government renewed its promise to pursue an army-backed political transition plan in "a way that strives not to exclude any party". Egyptian Ambassador to the UK Ashraf el-Kholy defended the dispersal and blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for causing the difficulties, saying: "Of course they did nothing but return fire. If you have somebody firing at you then you have to respond." Party spokesman Mona al-Qazzaz said:
This is not a government, this is not a regime, it is a mafia...They failed at every single democratic process, and they came on the back of the tanks as leaders...This is an illegitimate mafia that has hijacked the power of Egypt...They would have to pay the price of their crimes against humanity. They are the illegal people, we have won at every single democratic process and they have lost, and the only way for them to be back in the political arena is through the power of the bullets and tanks.Grand
International
;Rights groups On 10 December, thirteen Egyptian and international human rights organizations urged Cairo's interim authorities to probe the violence during the sit-in dispersal in the capital on 14 August. The joint call issued by organizations that included Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said an investigation must be launched into the killing of "up to 1,000 people by security forces" almost four months ago when they dispersed sit-ins by supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi. "There can be no hope for the rule of law and political stability in Egypt, much less some modicum of justice for victims, without accountability for what may be the single biggest incident of mass killing in Egypt's recent history," said Gasser Abdel-Razak, associate director at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. "As a first step toward accountability, the government should establish an effective independent fact-finding committee to investigate responsibility throughout the chain of command for the unlawful killings," the rights groups said. They said that on 14 August a "small minority of protesters used firearms... but the police responded excessively by shooting recklessly, going far beyond what is permitted under international law." "After the unprecedented levels of violence and casualties seen since the ousting of Mohamed Morsi, investigations must provide real answers and cannot be another whitewash of the security forces' record," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty International said in the statement. "Egypt's authorities cannot deal with the carnage through PR in world's capitals, rewriting events and locking up Morsi's supporters." The groups also said the probe should determine whether there is any evidence of a policy to kill protesters or commit other serious crimes. ;Supranational bodies *Rabia sign
As a result of the dispersal of the sit-ins, the Rabia sign (or R4BIA as some supporters call it) emerged widely among the pro-Morsi and pro-Brotherhood masses as a part of a protest campaign against the post-Morsi governmental authorities. The origin of the sign is unclear. ''Raba'a'' means "fourth" in Arabic and the symbol was named after the Rabaa al-Adawiya square. Some credit its invention toSee also
* Mohamed Soltan *References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egyptian raids 2013 Egyptian coup d'état 2013 in Egypt 2013 protests Attacks in Egypt in 2013 August 2013 events in Africa Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) Massacres in Egypt Massacres in 2013 Political repression in Egypt Protest-related deaths Protests in Egypt Riots and civil disorder in Egypt