Only a few months back the world was concerned for the safety of liberal Egyptians after the Muslim Brotherhood's dramatic ascent to power. Suddenly women were reporting incidents of being told that they will be forced to wear the veil as well as even more drastic incidents like girls having their hair cut by veiled women while in public transportation. In addition to that, liberal activists were under severe attack from Islamist politicians and when people decided to protest against former president Morsi, the results were catastrophic; many were injured or even killed by Morsi supporters who attacked the protests. Videos from the incidents were captured and many of them are still circulating the web. This is what prompted many of the aforementioned activists to join forces with people whose ideals were a far cry from theirs on June 30th in an attempt to put an end to what was turning out to be a theocratic dictatorship. During the June 30th protests you could speak to people who strenuously opposed Mubarak's regime and the military rule and one moment later speak to ones who, not only are hoping for military involvement but also are strong supporters of Mubarak's regime, some of them were such strong supporters of the regime that they saw June 30th as an opportunity to correct what happened in Jan 25th which was in their opinion a huge mistake to begin with. Many were optimistic about the sense of unity this scene brought on, while on the other hand many more were alarmed by the entirely different outcomes each of these groups expected. A revolutionary solution may have seemed possible at the beginning but after General Sisi's ultimatum, skepticism was on the rise and it started to feel like the military was taking over after it was clear whose side was winning – for the second time. Those who felt that way were shunned by their comrades for the most part and even accused of trying to divide the people when their word was being heard and responded to by the Egyptian Armed Forces. On July 3rd, the Egyptian Army officially ousted Morsi. This was met with mixed emotions both from Egyptians and the entire world and so a huge debate arose "is it a coup or a revolution?" this, of course, has not been resolved, yet, and whenever the subject is brought up a long conversation will take place, at the end of which no one will accept to deter from their opinion in the slightest. Who could blame them? After all, what did happen? And how can anyone label it? After Morsi's ousting, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood started a sit-in in Raba'a Al-Adaweya. Although said sit-in was supposed to have been guarded by the military, there were many reports of weapons and even torture victims within the vicinity of the sit-in. Egyptians were enraged! It is baffling, however, that all their rage was directed at Muslim Brotherhood supporters and not at all at the police and army forces who were supposed to make sure things like that would not happen. It is understandable that the culprits themselves should be the ones to blame but is it not the authorities' responsibility to make sure said culprits do not terrorize the citizens? Nevertheless, this continued to go on for over a month, during which, General Sisi requested that the Egyptian people take to the streets once more to "delegate" the army to fight terrorism. Something that is also very difficult to understand as it is the government's job to fight terrorism, no delegation needed. Despite many activists' calls for boycotting this event as they suspected it will finally give Sisi the green light to forcefully disperse the sit-in; many people did come out requesting, and even begging Sisi to intervene, no matter what the cost may be. Strengthened by people's support, Sisi made the decision to disperse the protest on July 14th. The casualties were tremendous and within a day over 600 were killed, according to the Egyptian Health Ministry. Responses from everyday Egyptian citizens ranged from justification to condemnation. Some tried to remind others that the sit-in participants were armed, dangerous individuals who have managed to terrorize Egyptian citizens for over a month, while others responded by telling them that many of them were normal Egyptian citizens themselves who just happened to have a different political view from theirs. There were also those who not only condemned the violent manner with which the sit-in was dispersed because of the casualties, but also because of the fact that it strengthened the Muslim Brotherhood's situation. Overall, things were not looking too well for either party as reports of casualties from the police and army forces started to make the news as well. Everything which has been happening since then is terrifyingly haphazard. Egyptian government repeatedly tried to justify the events to the world by recounting the torture incidents and the weapons found in the sit-in. While on the other hand, terrorist attacks were made on churches all over Egypt – doing more damage to the Brotherhood's already tarnished reputation – reports of which range from 50 to 90 churches which were attacked. Surprisingly as the death toll was still rising consistently, protection of churches was barely present and if so, it was extremely scarce. Now, almost two weeks later and even with a curfew imposed over Egypt and many of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders detained for questioning, random acts of violence are still occurring and the casualties are still unaccounted for. This has done very little to the general public's psyche as now there are grudges being held from both sides. The government, in an attempt to clear itself from responsibility, has demonized Muslim Brotherhood supporters to an extent which now makes it extremely difficult for people to accept them within the society. Many have reported cases where Muslim Brotherhood supporters or anyone sporting a beard was threatened or even attacked on the streets and in broad daylight. Muslim Brotherhood leaders have done the same and now their supporters are more radical and dangerous than ever. It now looks as if unless some sort of common grounds are reached, not only will we keep witnessing apathy to any casualties that took place before, but also we are probably going to see many more from both sides. Now that the tables have turned and Islamists no longer have the upper hand, will liberal Egyptians take the higher road? ** The writer is a regular columnist for Bikyanews.com BN
