CAIRO — Posters of Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi outnumbered all other trinkets sold or distributed during the street celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the October 1973 War. The day turned into "Sisi Fest," rather than a celebration of Egypt's armed forces, during which a campaign for the general's presidency found large numbers of supporters.
It was just in July that Sisi and the army’s proclaimed disinterest in the post was used as evidence against referring to the removal of President Mohammed Morsi as a coup. At the same time, the military’s intervention was hailed as necessary to prevent possible bloodshed. On Oct. 6, however, there was none of that. No one was calling for a civilian president or state during festivities juxtaposed by deadly gunfire. More than 50 people were killed, and Egyptians either cheered or found justification for it. The reaction to such deaths has been the same since some 1,000 people were killed in the dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins and subsequent clashes in August.