http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2011/1068/fr1.htm
13 - 19 October 2011
Issue No. 1068
Front Page
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
The test of bloody Sunday
The tragic death of Coptic protesters underlines the need for a prompt end to
the increasingly confused transition, Dina Ezzat reports
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Click to view caption
Sunday 9 October will remain a black day in Egypt's history. At least 25
Egyptians were killed, the vast majority Copts, and accusing fingers are
pointed at an army fresh from celebrating the 1973 October victory. What
exactly happened will emerge with time. The most urgent task now facing all
Egyptians is to ensure such a tragedy can never be repeated
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"Why should I care if the government has resigned or not? Does it mean
anything? Christians are still being killed and churches burned down. It
happened under Hosni Mubarak but after the revolution we had hoped things would
change for the better," said Angele, an elderly Coptic lady, as she was leaving
an Orthodox Church in Heliopolis on Tuesday evening.
She was speaking a day after grieving families, Copts and many anguished
Muslims, had paid their tributes to the victims of the carnage that took place
around the state-owned television and radio headquarters on Sunday evening in
which 25 Copts were killed.
News of the possible resignation of the Essam Sharaf government, made public on
Tuesday evening, failed to prompt any interest among a public awed by Sunday's
tragedy.
Political activists and ordinary members of the public -- regardless of their
religion -- expressed their thoughts on Facebook and Twitter: while the
resignation of the government would be welcome as an acknowledgement of
responsibility, it would not remedy the wounds caused by the repeated attacks
against Copts.
On Sunday thousands of Copts were joined by sympathetic Muslim activists as
they marched from Shubra to the venue headquarters of state TV building to
protest against the state's failure to deal with the demolition of a church in
Aswan allegedly by a mob incited by a mosque preacher.
Quite how the demonstration turned bloody remains unclear. No convincing
official narrative has emerged, and the facts are few and far between amid a
mass of rumour and speculation.
For now, says Abdel-Hamid, the dismay and anger is too strong to be contained
by unsourced leaks suggesting the government is willing to resign.
With few exceptions, political parties and public figures have repeatedly
demanded a speedy end to the transitional phase, allowing soldiers to return to
their barracks and an elected president and parliament to take the necessary
legal measures -- away from the emergency law -- to establish order and equal
citizenship.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) however, has shown no signs of
curtailing its plans for a lengthy transitional period that under the current
timetable will see them hand over power in mid-2012 at the earliest. In a
statement issued on Monday morning the SCAF insisted it "will continue to carry
its national responsibility".
The SCAF, added the same source, is capable of clearing any confusion and
dispelling the worries of Copts. To judge by the angry statements made during
the two funeral masses for the victims of the massacre on Monday at the Coptic
Cathedral in Abbasiya it is difficult to see how. For the time being, at least,
Copts have put aside their concerns over extremist Islamist groups to focus
their anger on the SCAF which, they say, has consistently failed to address
Coptic grievances.
In a press conference on Wednesday the SCAF repeatedly stressed that it is at
the service of the nation and its entire people, Copts and Muslims. The
council, which does not contain a single Copt, said that it is dealing with all
citizens equally.
Soldiers on duty on Sunday, said Hegazi, were not armed with live ammunition
and did not use armoured vehicles to kill demonstrators.
SCAF member Major General Adel Emara said that "if some demonstrators were hit
by armoured vehicles then it was done unintentionally; it goes against the
creed of the Armed Forces to hit anybody -- even enemy soldiers -- with the
armoured vehicles". SCAF ordered an investigation committee to probe the events.
The version of events offered by the SCAF failed to tally with the accounts of
eyewitnesses who spoke to the Weekly the day following the clashes, and are
incompatible with the accounts offered by several independent right groups.
A source at the Coptic Cathedral declined to comment on the statements of
Hegazi and Emara. "The Church is not going to enter into a verbal confrontation
with the SCAF," he said, adding that the truth is "documented" and the issue
now facing the Church is to ensure Copts are treated as fully-fledged citizens.
Girgis was referring not only to the series of attacks against churches that
started last December in Omraniya Giza -- when police officers then attacked
and killed angry Coptic demonstrators -- but also to the Byzantine regulations
imposed on the construction of churches.
These are supposed to be simplified under the long delayed unified law for the
construction of mosques and churches.
Following Sunday's carnage the SCAF asked the cabinet to finalise the new
legislation within two weeks. But according to a source at the prime minister's
office, issuing the law is one thing, applying it another. He suggested that
the SCAF would shy away from enforcing a law that could lead to further
sectarian confrontations.
In and out of the Coptic Cathedral on Monday the anger was palpable. A source
close to the Coptic Cathedral told the Weekly that Pope Shenouda is being urged
by his closest aides to "make it very clear to the authorities that the Church
will not keep its head down when Copts are being killed".
Security has been beefed up, especially in Upper Egypt where anger is running
high and the fact-finding committee investigating the destruction of a church
two weeks ago in Aswan is just beginning its work.
Speaking by phone from Nagaa Hammadi, the scene of a shocking attack on Coptic
worshippers exiting a church on Christmas Eve January 2010, Nargis, a copt
protester, said that "everybody is angry".
It is not clear how this anger will be channelled. A police officer posted in
Assiut said that there is serious concern that "violence will erupt again given
the agitated sentiments and upcoming parliamentary elections".
Meanwhile, sources at the Coptic patriarchy say priests "across Egypt" have
been preaching restraint in the face of any possible provocation. "We will
continue to turn the other cheek to violence but we will also be firm in our
call for our rights as citizens of this country and we will continue to pray to
the Lord to save us -- the Lord, not anybody else," he said in reference to
fabricated statements suggesting possible American intervention to protect
churches in Egypt.
On Monday the Coptic Church asked its members to fast for three days. It is the
first time in 30 years, when late president Anwar El-Sadat moved into open
confrontation with Pope Shenouda, that such a call has been made.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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