Muslim Brotherhood protester carrying weapons at Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in - File photo
CAIRO – 14 August 2017: Residents of Rabaa El Adawiya Square and its surrounding streets had made several complaints publicly that Islamist protesters had been hiding weapons in the buildings and gardens, expressing their fears and feelings of non-safety.
The dismantling of the Rabaa El Adawiya and Nahda sit-ins on August 14, 2013 was a long awaited measure by the majority of Egyptian people, who had taken to the streets on June 30 of the same year to demand the resignation of former Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted on July 3, 2013.
The dismantling process started at 6:00 a.m. and ended at 7:00 a.m., until security forces took full control over the area. Protesters were first warned to leave the place peacefully before security forces started throwing tear gas to force armed elements out of the place.
Video of fire set by protesters in the street
Many protesters fled in the direction of Tayaran Street, connecting Nasr Street, where the square lies, to Orouba Road in the Masr El Gedida neighborhood.
As they realized that was the end of their occupation of such a key area, Brotherhood members set many fires in the street and its facilities, causing the explosion of a main electricity cable. What’s more, fire erupted at an oil station in Youssef Abbas Street, as the Brotherhood had opened fire on it.
Most notably, the Brotherhood had set Rabaa El Adawiya Mosque, where they used to take shelter, on fire while leaving. It is highly suspected that the act was driven by their attempt to hide their crimes of torturing and murdering the civilians they used to kidnap throughout the time period of the sit-in.
What’s more, Brotherhood members burnt two firefighting trucks to inhibit the extinguishing of the fire at the mosque, which had extended to another mosque in the area as well. Two burnt bodies were found near Rabaa El Adawiya Medical Center.
Protesters walking peacefully out of Rabaa Square
Since the beginning of the dismantling process, trained armed members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood targeted policemen and officers, killing and injuring dozens of them despite the fact that they were wearing bulletproof vests.
The Ministry of Interior announced on the same day the killing of 17 officers and 35 policemen, as well as the injury of 55 officers and 156 policemen, during the dismantling of both sit-ins. However, an update by the ministry on September 6, 2013 revealed that numbers jumped to 117 deaths and 1,063 injuries among police forces.
All cases of deaths and injuries among police forces were due to live rounds through weapons used by armed protesters.
Footage of policemen and army soldiers injured while dispersing Rabaa sit-in
Police Special Forces arrested seven snipers, who were shooting at security forces from the roof of a building next to Rabaa El Adawiya Mosque.
Protesters leaving the sit-in were inspected, and those who did not possess any weapons were transferred to their governorates by buses from Rabaa Square. One hundred were arrested, and many firearms were found, including grenov guns.
Muslim Brotherhood protester carrying weapons at Rabaaal-Adawiya sit-in -File photo
The Ministry of Interior announced on August 14, 2013 that 10 machine guns, 29 birdshot guns, 9,622 live rounds, six grenades, five birdshot shells, 55 Molotov cocktail bottles, a huge quantity of white weapons (non-firearm weapons), bulletproof vests, and walkie-talkies were seized from the Rabaa sit-in.
Some of these weapons were hidden inside the buildings and on the roofs of the schools occupied by the terrorist protesters in Rabaa. On the other hand, the largest quantities of arms and ammunitions were hidden in Rabaa Mosque itself, where a hanging rope knot was found in one of its rooms.
Furthermore, police forces found mortars and a flamethrower gun at the Nahda sit-in.
What was most appalling was the number of dead bodies found hidden at the sit-in areas.
Mortar bombs
Thirty-eight dead bodies were removed from the Rabaa field hospital administered by the Brotherhood through 40 ambulances. Twenty-six bodies were found beneath the stage in Rabaa and sent to the morgue on August 15, 2013.
Two days after the dismantling of the Rabaa sit-in, the Public Prosecution revealed that 12 bodies were found to be decomposing, assuming that the victims were killed about three days before the dismantling of the sit-in.
On August 15, 2013, the Legal Medicine Authority announced that there were no women or children among the dead bodies it received. The authority finished the autopsy of 550 bodies in three days on August 17, 2013.
The bodies in the morgue were divided into 274 civilians and seven policemen from Rabaa, 20 civilians and two policemen from Nahda, and 252 civilians and 20 policemen from different violence events that occurred in Cairo and other governorates on the dismantling day.
The video shows a terrorist shooting at police from above a Mobil gas station
The authority announced on August 17, 2014 that the identities of 25 bodies were not identified, issuing 108 reports on the dismantling of the Rabaa sit-in, and five reports on the Nahda sit-in.
The total number of police and civilian victims who fell during the dismantling of the Rabaa sit-in was 627.
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