Egyptian protesters killed on anniversary of deadly government crackdown

Security officers killed four Egyptian protesters on Thursday as citizens took to the streets of Cairo to mark the first anniversary of the government’s heavy-handed crackdown on protesters in Rabaa, during which at least 1,000 people were killed.

On Aug. 14, 2013, after then-army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the effort to remove Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, security forces cracked down on Morsi supporters at protest camps in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares in Cairo.

The assault was "one of the largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history,” the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Tuesday. HRW said that the government’s targeting of the two nonviolent protest camps "most likely amount to crimes against humanity" and called for an international inquiry.

Official estimates say more than 700 people were killed at the two squares on that day, and hundreds more in protests that followed.

On Thursday, attempts by Morsi supporters to demonstrate were swiftly suppressed, reflecting their dwindling ability to stage protests in the country.

The pro-Morsi Anti-Coup Alliance had called for nationwide rallies on Thursday under the slogan "We Demand Retribution." In response, security forces were deployed around Cairo's main squares including Tahrir, Rabaa, Nahda and Giza. Nineteen protesters were arrested nationwide, officials said.

Sisi overthrew Morsi after millions of people took to the streets demanding his resignation after just one year in office. They accused Morsi of monopolizing power and ruining an already dilapidated economy.

Sisi subsequently secured a landslide election victory in May this year, becoming the country's second democratically elected president.

Al Jazeera and wire services