islamiat ouster with mourning, Marks 2nd Anniversary In Egypt

Muslim brotherhood supporters throw rocks at a protest to mark the second anniversary of the military’s overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, Giza, Egypt, Friday, July 3, 2015.
When he led the army’s overthrow of Egypt’s Islamist president two years ago, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi promised to usher in new stability for the country. Instead, now President el-Sissi is facing an even tougher challenge: An Islamic militant insurgency that unleashed its worst violence yet the past week.

Two years to the day after the army overthrew Egypt's Islamist president, the sounds coming from the mosque at Cairo's Tahrir Square were sadly telling. At the focal point of Egypt's upheavals, where authorities had hoped to stage celebrations, there was instead a prayer for the week's dead, including soldiers cut down by militants in Sinai and the country's chief prosecutor, assassinated by car bomb in the capital.

A sense of foreboding fills the air, with officials and media speaking of a state of war and urging national unity. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has promised swift justice, which critics fear will mean a further step away from democracy. The Muslim Brotherhood, banned but unbowed, has upped the ante by calling for revolt against his rule. There is fear of even worse attacks of the kind that have become sadly familiar around the region.