CAIRO — I took part in the June 30 protests, marched on the presidential palace and chanted that Mohamed Morsi must step down as president and that the Muslim Brotherhood’s yearlong rule of Egypt must come to an end. And on Wednesday I got what I wanted. But I cannot fully celebrate.

As fellow anti-Morsi protesters roam the streets cheering his ouster, I feel alienated — not sad, but not really happy. And as I recall the glorious moments of the 2011 revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak, I know that today's triumph cannot resemble them. Back then, I had not yet lived through the transitional military rule that would follow. I had not yet seen protesters crushed to death by armored vehicles, dragged on the streets and undressed by soldiers, and I had not yet known of women subjected by army officers to forced virginity tests.

Make no mistake: there is no democracy under military rule. Yet I supported the June 30 protests knowing that military rule was imminent, because Mr. Morsi’s rule had not been democratic, either.

Throughout the year of his presidency, protesters who opposed him were violently crushed by the police and by Muslim Brotherhood members. He supported the Interior Ministry in its violent tactics against demonstrators and failed to investigate incidents in which protesters were killed. Journalists and activists were arrested, and the president issued an edict giving him immunity from judicial review. The presidential election, conducted without a clear legal framework, was not enough to make Mr. Morsi’s rule democratic.