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CAIRO (Reuters) - Ten years ago protesters surged onto Egypt’s streets, emboldened by the success of Tunisia’s Arab Spring uprising.
FILE PHOTO: Anti-government protesters in Cairo s Tahrir Square listen as President Hosni Mubarak speaks to the nation February 10, 2011. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
Some young activists formed the Revolution Youth Coalition to draw together the uprising’s disparate strands and give the protesters occupying Cairo’s Tahrir Square a coherent voice.
They demanded freedom, dignity, democracy and social justice amid battles with police and state-hired thugs, and on Feb. 11 President Hosni Mubarak resigned.
But the coalition fragmented as it faced two much more established forces: the Muslim Brotherhood that swept to power in later elections, and the military that toppled it in 2013.
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They demanded freedom, dignity, democracy and social justice amid battles with police and state-hired thugs, and on February 11 President Hosni Mubarak resigned.
But the coalition fragmented as it faced two much more established forces: the Muslim Brotherhood that swept to power in later elections, and the military that toppled it in 2013.
Egypt now faces a different landscape. Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, who became president in 2014 after leading the overthrow of the Brotherhood s Mohammed Morsi, has overseen a crackdown that activists call the harshest for decades.
Sissi says in response that he has brought stability, allowing the country to move on from the turmoil that followed 2011. Officials did not respond to a request for further comment.