Morsi supporters protest outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo on August 12, 2013.
Photo: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
A day after Egypt’s military government named nineteen generals as provincial governors, sparking complaints of a return to the authoritarianism even from some who pushed for the ouster or Mohamed Morsi six weeks ago, Egyptian forces followed through on their threats to dismantle two antigovernment sit-ins in Cairo. The capital was paralyzed on Wednesday morning as authorities sent in armored vehicles, bulldozers, and helicopters to back security forces in clearing the protest camps near Cairo University and the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. Though Egyptian officials say around two hundred protesters were arrested and none were killed, the Muslim Brotherhood claims there were several dozens fatalities, calling the operation a “massacre.”
