CAIRO (AP) Hundreds of Egyptians on Wednesday held candles, waved pictures of slain protesters and demanded retribution from former generals while marking the second anniversary of the killing of 26 people, mostly Christians, in a military crackdown.
But participants in the solemn vigil were divided about criticizing the military over the deaths, a sign of shifting attitudes since the army's ouster of the Islamist president last summer.
The more belligerent chanted "down with military rule," a slogan made famous during the chaotic military-led transition period after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Some even called for the execution of former army chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, hoisting aloft pictures of him and other now-retired generals they blame for the deaths. One laid a picture of Tantawi on the street for cars to drive over it.
"There an Islamist fascism and there is a military fascism," said Madeha el-Malawani, an activist in her sixties. "There will be no compromises over the blood and I can't negotiate over the dead bodies of our sons."
Other demonstrators rejected the anti-military chants, describing the army as a savior for its July 3 overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi after millions marched demanding his resignation.