Saturday marked the three year anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, which ousted military dictator Hosni Mubarak and ushered in Egypt’s first (and likely only) free election, a distant memory since the military took over again in July.
The anniversary was marked around Cairo with protests demanding a return to civilian rule, and with a major junta-run rally in Tahrir Square, the site of the 2011 revolution, demanding the mass execution of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the ruling party during the brief civilian era.
“The people want the execution of the Brotherhood,” was the chant in Tahrir with military parades aiming to distract attention from the bloody crackdowns elsewhere in the city, which left at least 54 dead, hundreds of others wounded or captured.
Most of the Tahrir rally aimed at painting an overwhelming mandate for continued junta rule, and support for military ruler Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, currently the Defense Ministry but almost certainly the next president, following in the long line of Mubarak-style military rulers.