Rabaa massacre

On 14 August 2013, the Egyptian police and to a lesser extent the armed forces, under the command of then-Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, used lethal force to clear two camps of protesters in Cairo. Estimates of those killed vary from 600 to 2,600. For six weeks, the two sites, at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square and al-Nahda Square, had been occupied by supporters of President Mohamed Morsi, who had been overthrown by a military coup the prior month following mass protests against his rule. Initiatives to end the six-week sit-ins by peaceful means had failed. The camps were cleared out within hours.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the sit-in dispersals as crimes against humanity, and called them "one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history", in reference to the numerous deaths that occurred.

The exact death toll during the incident is unclear, and multiple sources have given conflicting estimates. HRW stated that 817 were killed by government forces in Rabaa Square and 87 in al-Nahda Square. The Egyptian Health Ministry figures were 595 protesters and 43 police officers killed, and 3,994 injured. However, The Forensic Medical Authority stated that the number of police officers killed was only eight. Egypt's National Council for Human Rights stated that at least 624 civilians were killed. The Muslim Brotherhood and the National Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy stated the number of deaths from the Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque sit-in alone was about 2,600. The total casualty count made 14 August the deadliest day in Egypt since the 2011 Egyptian revolution which toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Several world leaders denounced the deadly violence during the sit-in dispersion. However, the sit-in, before it was dispersed, was coupled with widespread violent acts of retaliation by the Islamist groups targeting government security personnel and churches in several cities across Egypt. The interim government declared a three-month-long state of emergency and curfews were enforced in many cities.