Egyptian Revolution of 2011

In January and February 2011 eighteen days of protest centered on Tahrir Square ended the thirty-year rule of Hosni Mubarak.

Overview

Police brutality, rigged elections, and mass youth unemployment primed the uprising, called for 25 January, national police day, by online activists including the April 6 movement. Hundreds of thousands occupied Tahrir Square through camel-borne attacks, internet shutdowns, and mass arrests. The army command declined to clear the squares, and on 11 February 2011 Mubarak resigned, handing power to a military council. The transition stumbled through military rule, a Muslim Brotherhood presidency won by Mohamed Morsi, and the 2013 coup led by general Sisi, whose forces killed over a thousand supporters of the ousted president at Rabaa. The revolution won bread, freedom, and social justice as slogans but not durable democracy, becoming the emblematic case of the Arab Spring contested legacy.