assassinations and acts of arson; all committed by unknown perpetrators.

The state-controlled media pointed at everyone from left-wing anarchists to Islamists.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) had taken over and was beginning its policy of divide and rule. Its objective appeared to be to sow seeds of doubt – between all those who had been involved in the revolution and also between Muslims and Christians.

When, on October 9, 2011, 27 peaceful Christian demonstrators were killed by the armed forces in front of the state television building, SCAF indicated that the army and riot police had charged at the demonstrators in response to shots from an unknown third party that had fired on troops who were stationed around the building.

Doubts were cast upon the Islamists, although their partiesdenounced the massacre.

At the same time, however, the military was making moves towards the country’s two main Islamic political parties – the Muslim Brotherhood, which had, in the wake of the revolution, formed its Freedom and Justice Party, and the Salafist Al-Nour Party. It sought to stir rivalry between the two.

The unprecedented scenes of solidarity at Tahrir Square had slipped away. What had remained was a scam with SCAF at the centre, supported by public and private media and intelligence and former regime-created alliances.

While the US was not being openly targeted by the military, it was the subject of a fierce disinformation campaign waged by the media – a media that had long had a bias against it. Why, then, would a military that had always been known