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Worldwide social media reactions to Sisi's controversial speech
Addressing several issues in a lengthy speech to a group of officials and journalists on Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made some controversial statements that many found either hilarious, confusing, or impossible to understand.
His speech kicked off a storm on social media, with users coming up with several hashtags in both Arabic and English.
Arabic language hashtags included "Leave", which was launched as an angry reaction to many of the points Sisi made in his speech.
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Egyptians and other people across the world resorted to Twitter, among other social networking platforms, to make sarcastic comments or attempt to make some sense of Sisi's confusing statements.
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Sisi suggested that "evil" conspirators were working against the country, adding that he would not identify them.
"The conspiracy by the people of evil, they have been at work, and are still working," he said in the speech, broadcast live on state television.
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Translation: Sisi the liar said to the Egyptian people: "Evil conspirators are working against Egypt". Who are the evil conspirators? They are those who kill innocent people and give up land and honour.
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Translation: [Using the hashtag 'Confidence withdrawn from Sisi'] The President considers the opposing public opinion as evil conspirators, so what kind of democracy are we talking about?
In his speech, Sisi said blamed social media and media professional for several controversial issues, including the failure of negations over Ethiopia's Renaissance dam, as well as the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni and the confusion surrounding a maritime border demarcation deal signed on Saturday with Saudi Arabia.
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Translation: I still cannot comprehend what Sisi said about Regeni. The fact that someone was tortured to death was not the problem, but rather the way the media handled it. What is this?
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Translation: Regarding Regeni's case, Sisi's speech has undoubtedly shown that he will personally continue to cover for his murderers, and that his main problem is with those who seek the truth.
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Translation: Sisi blamed the media for the failure of the negotiations over the Renaissance dam. And in the same speech, he prevented reporters from discussing the red carpet that his car drove over.
This tweet referred to the controversy sparked in February when a massive red carpet was laid over public roads for Sisi's motorcade during a trip to open a social housing project in a Cairo suburb.
When Sisi ended his speech, one of the attendees grabbed the microphone and began speaking before anyone was given the floor. The Egyptian leader responded angrily, saying that he had not given the permission for anyone to speak yet, before the TV live broadcast was cut off.
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