Pro-Morsi supporters organise vigil to mark the Rabaa anniversary

Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi organised a vigil on Tuesday in the vicinity of the Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square, east of Cairo, two days before the first anniversary of the massacre that occurred there after the military coup.

Anadolu news agency quoted eyewitnesses as saying that a vigil was organised on Tayaraan Street amidst people chanting condemnation of the events that occurred during the operation to disperse the pro-Morsi protesters on 14 August of last year.

The witnesses said the vigil lasted for nearly 15 minutes, but that the organisers had to end it before the security forces arrived.

Last year the Egyptian police, backed by troops from the army, led an operation to break up a nearly three-week-long peaceful sit-in organised at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Ennahda Squares, leaving hundreds dead and many more wounded.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian authorities prevented a delegation from Human Rights Watch (HRW) from entering the country on Sunday. The rights organisation was set to release a carefully compiled report on the mass killings in Egypt during July and August 2013, which accuses the leaders of the coup of widescale abuses and criminal acts.

HRW head Kenneth Roth concluded, “the Egyptian government has no appetite to face up to the reality of these abuses, let alone hold those responsible to account.”