15 Breathtaking Images Of the Protest that Changed Egypt Forever
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have been gathering in Tahrir Square since June 30, protesting against President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. And just minutes ago, the Egyptian Army announced it suspended the constitution and removed the president. Though much of the American media is calling this a coup, it certainly doesn't look like a coup to the estimated 30,000 people in Egypt's streets. As I watched the breaking news, I was Facebook-chatting with my friend, Sherif Joseph Rizk, a publisher and political organizer, who co-founded the organization The New Republic Group. I asked him if this was a coup and he responded, "it's a people's coup!" In the words of journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who is reporting from Cairo's Tahrir Square: "We saw a rejection of Hosni Mubarak that threw him out of office, a rejection of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ruling Egypt, and now a rejection and a revolution against the Muslim Brotherhood. [The people] are revolting against these authoritarian elements that deny them political and economic agency ... The more important struggle is the one that is coming from the ground up — and that is a rejection of authoritarianism and a paternalistic form of government." Here are 15 striking photos posted on Instagram and twitpic of the popular movement that removed Egypt's president.
