Egypt on Friday marked the second anniversary of what has become known as the Rabaa massacre, when security forces violently cleared two protest camps in Cairo, staged in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

The larger of the two sit-ins in support of Morsi, who was Egypt's first elected president before being overthrown by the army in a popularly backed coup on 3 July 2013, took place in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

The second sit-in was held at Nahda Square, before being attacked along with Rabaa Square by armed security forces on 14 August 2013, leading to the deaths of around 1,000 protestors.

A few days ahead of the second anniversary of the Rabaa massacre, government officials placed placards across Rabaa Square renaming it Hisham Barakat, after Cairo’s prosecutor general who was killed in a bomb attack in June.

The move has been seen by observers as an attempt to erase a collective memory of the violent crackdown on the hundreds of thousands of protesters who camped out in Cairo to protest against the military coup.

Rabaa Square became a symbol of resistance as the site where, according to HRW report, at least 1,000 Egyptians, predominantly supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, were killed during the forcible dispersal of the protesters. The Egyptian government condemned the HRW report for including "misleading information".

The name Rabaa and its associated symbol of four-fingers on top of a yellow background was appropriated by resistance groups which continue to hold protests and challenge the current government led by Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who staged the coup when he was head of the army and defence minister.

The Egyptian cabinet officially approved the renaming of Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in July, almost three weeks after Barakat was killed in a Cairo bomb attack that targeted his car.

The request to change the name of the square was made in order to "erase the memory" of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in and "replace it with the everlasting memory of Barakat’s martyrdom as a respected judge", said head of the Judges Club Abdullah Fathy on the day of Barakat’s death.

Two years after the dispersal, the square is surrounded by several police checkpoints, while Rabaa mosque, after which the square was originally named, remains closed.

Despite being renovated, the mosque – which was the site for a makeshift hospital during the sit-in – and adjacent complex remain empty as high security measures have been maintain, passers-by told MEE.