On 30 June Egyptians marked the anniversary of the ‘30 June revolution’ first declared a public holiday in 2015. The holiday recalls the protests that took place in 2013, a year after President Morsi’s inauguration, with tensions fuelled by worsening economic conditions, a decline in the quality of public services, and a rise in sectarian incidents. A few days later Morsi was removed from office by the Egyptian army, led by General Al-Sisi. The timeline below illustrates the events that led to this moment, and what has happened since. 

2011: Mubarak overthrown 

For 30 years, Hosni Mubarak served as Egypt’s fourth President.

But on 25 January 2011 millions of Egyptians took to Tahrir Square protesting his rule. The protests were an expression of years of frustration, corruption, unfair distribution of wealth, climbing poverty levels, youth unemployment. During violent clashes with Egyptian security forces, hundreds of protestors were killed.    

On 1 February 2011, Mubarak announced he would not contest the Presidential election that was due in September. He also promised Constitutional reform. These announcements proved insufficient and ten days later on 11 February he stood down as President. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces dissolved Parliament and suspended the Constitution.  The popular uprising continued.

On 9 October 2011 Christians gathered at Cairo’s Maspero television building to protest the broadcast of content that was inflammatory towards Christians, such as the destruction of a Coptic Church in Upper Egypt. The protest, involving thousands of Egyptians, was violently suppressed with 28 deaths reported.  

2012 – 2013: A post-revolution Parliament 

On 16 and 17 June 2012 Egyptians voted in Presidential elections. Mohammad Morsi, leader of the Freedom and Justice Party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, emerged as the winner by a narrow margin. 

On 30 June 2012 President Morsi was formally sworn into cabinet and assumed power as fifth President of Egypt. 

In November 2012 Morsi promulgated a temporary constitutional power, allowing him to legislate without judicial review or oversight. This provoked mass protests. 

Around the same time, despite a boycott of the process by Christian and secular groups, a new draft Constitution was proposed. Protests continued and in early December 2012 military control was invoked to maintain order until a referendum on the draft constitution could be held –approximately two-thirds of voters approved the new constitution. Despite, or perhaps fuelled by these developments, protests against Morsi’s rule continued into 2013. 

On 30 June 2013, the first anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration, protests took place across Egypt calling for his removal from office. 

On 3 July 2013 the military mobilised to remove Morsi from power. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was at the time head of the army.

The Egyptian Constitution of 2012 was suspended and Supreme Court Head Adly Mansour became Egypt’s interim President. 

Morsi supporters protested his removal, and were dispersed by security forces. In August 2012, an operation to break up a protest camp in Cairo killed more than a thousand protestors. More widely, alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters were rounded up and convicted in mass trials, with hundreds receiving death sentences. The Muslim Brotherhood was formally dissolved in September 2013 and designated a terrorist organisation in December.

These events provoked a wave of Islamist attacks against police and military targets, and at least forty churches and Christian institutions were burned down or damaged in mob attacks.

The interim government produced a new constitution that strengthened the role of the police and military. 

In January 2014 the new constitution was approved by referendum with over 98% of the vote. 

2014 - present: Al-Sisi in power 

On 26 March 2014 Al-Sisi announced his retirement from the military and his candidature in forthcoming Presidential election. Against one other candidate Al-Sisi was elected President with a majority of 96.9% of those who voted – 47% of the eligible electorate.   

In 2018, Al-Sisi stood for re-election and won with over 97% of votes cast.

In 2019 a referendum approved a number of significant amendments to the constitution. These include a reaffirmation of the two-term limit for the Presidency, but made provision for Al-Sisi to run for a third term in 2024.

Addendum

For many years during this period the Egyptian military had been engaged in a prolonged battle with religious extremists, especially in the Sinai Peninsula where, in 2014, militants had pledged allegiance to Islamic State. In February 2015, ISIS released a video of 21 Egyptian Copts being murdered on a beach in Libya. In December 2016, an explosion occurred at the Church of St Peter & Paul in Cairo. On Palm Sunday in 2017 two churches were bombed, Tanta’s St George’s Church and St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria.