As the news broke that Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically-elected president, was removed from office by the military, people took to Twitter.
Both #Egypt and Morsi quickly topped the United States Twitter trends, in echoes of 2011's "Arab Spring," during which revolutions spread across the Middle East greatly assisted by social media. Egypt's then-president Hosni Mubarak stepped down and handed control of the country to the Egyptian military.
Morsi was elected president in June 2012, but his authoritarian style of rule quickly made him unpopular with the Egyptian people. On the first anniversary of his election, June 30, protestors began massing in Tahrir Square and calling for him to step down.
Also read: Egypt Military Coup Pushes Zimmerman (Finally) Off Cable News Nets
Many of the people who tweeted about Egypt during the Arab Spring were back today to weigh in. Here's a sampling of their responses so far:
#Egypt: good riddance, #Morsi but let's stay focused and make sure not a millimeter given to military rule.
– Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) July 3, 2013
wow. was watching #wimbledon & missing the #coup in #egypt live now on #cnn. watching @wolfblitzer now.
– Don Lemon (@DonLemonCNN) July 3, 2013
#egypt army helicopter dropping flags during flyovers of #tahrir. Wild excitement
– Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) July 3, 2013
So I guess the US can keep #July4 to itself, with more than two hours to spare. #Egypt #July3
– Andy Carvin (@acarvin) July 3, 2013
Who didn't see this coming a year ago? #Morsi was elected, but acted like a dictator. Way forward from this coup determines #Egypt's future.
– Anas Qtiesh (@anas) July 3, 2013
Apparently, a number of religious TV channels went dark right after the army read its statement, including Misr25, Alnas, Rahma #Egypt
– Hasan Alhasan (@HTAlhasan) July 3, 2013
"First there was the Arab Spring, now there's the 'Uncertain Summer of 2013'" –@BWilliams #Egypt
– TODAY (@todayshow) July 3, 2013
Egypt re-writes History for the 738378383736263th time.
– Karim Hatem (@KarimHatem_) July 3, 2013
"I am the only legitimate president in #Egypt" – audio message from #Morsi just broadcasted via loudspeakers in Nasr City.
– Bilal Randeree (@bilalr) July 3, 2013
Area Journalist With No Real Knowledge of Situation Weighs in on Egypt
– daveweigel (@daveweigel) July 3, 2013
Oh so coups *arent* all fun and fireworks? RT @TPM: Al Jazeera raided, forcibly taken off air in Egypt: http://t.co/eJyiPlOGO9
– Brian Ries (@moneyries) July 3, 2013
#الرئيس Ù…حÙ…د Ù…رسي يؤكد تÙ…سكه بالشرعية الدستورية ويرفض أي Ù…حاولة للخروج عليها ويدعوالقوات الÙ…سلحة سحب إنذارها ويرفض أي إÙ…لاءات داخليةأوخارجية
– د.Ù…حÙ…د Ù…رسي (@MuhammadMorsi) July 2, 2013