Rabia sign

The sit-in lasted for about forty days before it was dispersed by security forces, leading to clashes that resulted in 638 deaths, of which 43 were police officers.

Supporters state that the gesture is used to express solidarity with what they call "the thousands wounded, killed and burnt by the Egyptian Army" during the dispersal of their sit-in.

Among these politicians is Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who claims the four fingered sign stands for "One people, one flag, one homeland, one nation'.

[7][4][5][8] Beginning on June 30, 2013, anti-government protests in Egypt were organized nationwide against President Mohamed Morsi, demanding his resignation and consequent early presidential elections.

[15] Morsi, being to this date in power for almost one year, refused to resign, insisting that his presidency is "legitimate," having won the Egyptian presidential election of 2012, which was considered to be free and fair.

[21] On the other hand, Human Rights Watch claimed that only firearms were observed, rather rarely, and that the protesters were ″overwhelmingly peaceful to be attacked in such a disproportionate and premeditated lethal way.

Various reports place its origin in Turkey, not Egypt, and later performed by the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan[1] But the sign stemmed from the "Rabaa Al-Adawiya" Mosque, located in Cairo, Nasr City.

[29] The namesake of the sign is the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Nasr City, Cairo Governorate, where Brotherhood affiliates held a sit-in.

Prime Minister and later president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his supporters, has been seen in several conferences and speeches making Rabia gestures.

German journalist Thorsten Gerald Schneiders claimed that "[t]he [Rabia sign] is already out of the Islamist spectrum, and has no relation with Islamic radicalism.

R4BIA sign
Rabia sign in a protest march, August 23, 2013.
Erdoğan performing the Rabaa gesture.