Anti-government protesters celebrate inside Tahrir Square after the announcement of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in Cairo February 11, 2011.

Egypt on Monday marked the fifth anniversary of the January 25 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

On the eve of the anniversary, President Abdelfattah al-Sisi warned against protests and disruption to security in a speech that paid tribute to the 2011 revolution.

Sisi said the protesters killed during the 18-day revolt had sought to revive “noble principles” and found a “new Egypt.” The televised speech came amid a recent spate of arrests and a heightened security presence in the capital Cairo.

Clearly, authorities are determined that the occasion will not be marked by popular demonstrations, or militant attacks.

Sisi said the 2011 uprising had deviated from its course and was forcibly hijacked for “personal gains and narrow interests,” in reference to the to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned and declared a terror group after Sisi, as military chief, led the ouster in July 2013 of Islamist President Mohammad Mursi, who hails from the Brotherhood.

The “June 30 revolution” – a reference to the day in 2013 when millions of Egyptians demonstrated on the streets against the rule of Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood – “corrected the course of the 2011 uprising,” Sisi said.

The June 30 revolution, he said, took place to “restore the free will of Egyptians and continue to realize their legitimate aspirations and deserved ambitions.”

Sisi, who came to office in 2014 after a landslide election win, cautioned against high expectations for democracy and freedoms.

“Democratic experiences don’t mature overnight, but rather through a continuing and accumulative process,” he said, before emphasizing the need to exercise “responsible freedom” to avoid “destructive chaos”- rhetoric harking back to Mubarak’s 29-year authoritarian rule, when he repeated assertions that gradual democratization ensures stability.

“Egypt today is not the Egypt of yesterday, we are building together a modern, developed and civilian state that upholds the values of democracy and freedom,” he said of the 2 ½ years since the removal of Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected president.

In this still image taken from video, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak attends a meeting in Cairo January 30, 2011.

An Egyptian Army soldier gestures to a crowd as he stands atop a tank in Cairo January 30, 2011.

Former President Mohammad Mursi swears in then army chief Abdelfattah al-Sisi.

Then Egyptian army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the overthrow of former President Mohammad Mursi on July 3.

Sisi supporters celebrate his election victory.

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