It has been a hard time for Copts in Egypt. The series of events which began on 2 September in the village of Merinab in Aswan: the church burning,
WATANI International
13 October 2011
It has been a hard time for Copts in Egypt. The series of events which began on 2 September in the village of Merinab in Aswan: the church burning, and the official stance that condoned and defended the culprits while blaming the Copts for daring to protest against the injustice, led to a second Coptic protest, this time in the form of a 50,000-strong vigil in front of the State TV building at Maspero in Cairo last Sunday. But the Copts never had the chance to hold their vigil, once at Maspero they were brutally attacked and literally crushed as the armoured trucks of the military mowed through them. Again, the official line went against the Copts: they were accused, on all State media outlets, of attacking the army. Given the rampant hate culture long spread by Islamists on the Egyptian street, a significant portion of the public turned against the Copts.
Despair of human effort
“Now who do we turn?” was the common Coptic cry. “The army, which should have been our major defence, has itself attacked us for no reason then placed the blame squarely on us through false accusations.” With a feeling of despair of all human effort, the Coptic Church took its plight to the Almighty.
In the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus the Lord says: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.” The Church declared three days of prayer and fasting, “in order for peace to reign in the land of Egypt”.
Three-day fast
The funeral of four Copts who were among 22 Coptic protestors and three Muslims killed during the Maspero attack was held at St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Abassiya, Cairo, early Monday afternoon.
Amid the unrestrained wailing and howls of pain from the congregation, as well as cheers of “Raise your head high, you are Coptic”, Pope Shenouda III presided over the funereal service.
The service began with the procession carrying the caskets down the isle of the church to the sound of melancholy chants of “Lord have mercy” and others of “Praise the Lord…” After the Bible reading, the announcement was made that the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church had declared a three-day fast and prayer period starting the following day, Tuesday. Aswan Bishop Anba Hedra had last week already called upon Aswan Copts to join in a three-day fast. “Our aim is to ask God to intervene and shield us with His hand and have mercy upon us,” he had said.
Bishop of Youth Anba Moussa delivered a word on behalf of Pope Shenouda, in which he offered condolences to the families of those who had died, and reminded of the heavenly crowns awaiting them in eternal life. He also thanked those who had come to share in the Copts’ grief and offer them comfort.
After-death reports
The bodies of the other Copts who were killed had been handed by their families to the health authorities for official after-death investigation. Rights activists had strongly advised the families to do so in order to secure the legal rights of the victims. The families agreed, but asked that the investigations should be carried out at the Coptic Hospital in Cairo, where most of the dead bodies were, instead of moving the bodies to the morgue. The authorities consented, and the other victims who had been at other Cairo hospitals where moved to the Coptic Hospital where the investigation was conducted. Until Watani International went to press the official reports had not been released, but the preliminary reports issued by the hospital for the burial permits are all posted—in Arabic and in English translation—on www.watani.com.eg. The reports revealed that seven of the victims had been shot, 14 run down by vehicles, and four attacked with sharp instruments.
On Monday evening, the after-death investigation was completed, and a funeral service held at St Mark’s. All the victims were buried in a collective tomb in a vault under the altar of the church of the Archangel Michael in the Coptic cemetery in 6 October town west of Cairo. On the way to the cemetery, the cortege was attacked by a crowd hurling stones and Molotov cocktails. This blocked the traffic for a couple of hours, but neither the Army nor the Police who were called for rescue showed up.
“We only want peace”
What had started on the afternoon of Sunday 9 October in Cairo as a peaceful, officially sanctioned, vigil intended to protest the injustice inflicted upon Copts turned into an event of the heinous violence. Coptic protests simultaneously held in the towns of Alexandria, Beni Sweif, Minya, Luxor, and Aswan proceeded to a large extent peacefully, but the Cairo protest met a harrowing end.
That afternoon in Cairo saw some 50,000 protestors, for the first time joined by a number of priests, peacefully march from the Cairo middle-class district of Shubra, famous for its high Coptic population, and head towards Downtown Cairo on their way to Maspero.
The women were in black or dark clothes and they were to hold a vigil in front of the State TV building in Maspero, Cairo. Many were very ordinary Copts who had never been publicly active but who went down to take part in the vigil.
The protestors had a list of demands. First was the dismissal of Aswan governor Mustafa al-Sayed for his miserable failure to protect his Coptic constituency and for his unfeeling and untruthful allegations against the Copts. They also demanded that the Merinab church should be rebuilt, the culprits who demolished and burned it brought to justice; the injured during the military-led dispersion of the Coptic protestors on Tuesday 4 October be compensated; and a quota for Copts in the upcoming parliament. A number of rights activists and moderate Muslims participated in the march, chanting slogans that declared: “Muslims and Copts are one hand.” The protestors demanding fair treatment by the military rulers, and chanted: “Peace…peace. We only want peace.”
Mangled bodies
On their way, the protestors were attacked—verbally and physically—by thugs from Sabtiya, a district known to harbour thugs. The Copts defended themselves against the attack and retaliated with stone-throwing. They arrived at Maspero to find the army and security soldiers waiting for them but, apparently, already engaged in combat with thugs. “It rained live bullets,” one demonstrator told Watani. “We tried to protect ourselves and those who were with us, to the point of taking hold of the soldiers when we could and forcing their arms up so that the firing would be in the air, but the attack was vicious.” The army turned and attacked the Copts, yet it claimed that it was the Copts who attacked the army.
Many of the demonstrators, among whom was activist Mina Samir who suffered an eye injury, told Watani that the military was in alliance with the thugs, Eyewitnesses testified on satellite TV to hearing ‘friendly’ conversations going on between both. It is commonly believed that the military exploited the thugs to start hostilities against the Copts so that, once the Copts fought back it could be claimed they were on the offensive.
Crushed and detained
The army turned against the Copts with clubs, tear gas and live bullets. Armoured vehicles ran over the demonstrators, crushing them to pieces. Even when the protestors ran for the relative safety of the sidewalks, the armoured trucks brutally chased them there. Twenty-two bodies bear witness to the sort of death they met. Iman Awad, deputy to the head nurse at the Coptic hospital, told Watani that the bodies were mangled, disfigured, dismembered, and one was headless. One head was split at the back, obviously bludgeoned to death. Most of the Coptic victims were crushed alive as the military armoured trucks mowed through them. Eyewitnesses say they saw several dead bodies hauled by the attackers and hurled into the Nile, making the number of the dead uncertain.
Outraged, the Copts retaliated by burning two armoured trucks and a number of cars. More than 300, among them soldiers—but the Armed Forces have refused to disclose the number of dead or injured among their ranks—were injured. Those Copts who tried to escape into nearby buildings were pulled out and either arrested or killed. Eyewitnesses claim that as many as 100 were detained, but it was later officially declared that 35 had been detained for 15 days pending investigation. They were charged with abusing equipment that belonged to the Armed Forces, and sabotaging public facilities.
Later in the evening the chase moved from Maspero to Ramses Street, at the Coptic Hospital where many of the victims had been moved. Ra’fat Raouf, a young worker who lives next to the hospital, told Watani that crowds converged on the hospital, and attacked the family members of the victims and the injured.
A curfew was declared from 2:00am till 7:00am Monday morning in Maspero, Tahrir, Downtown Cairo and Abassiya.
Media conspiracy
But what hurt the Copts most and made this incident of violence against them particularly painful was that the State media made it look as though the Copts attacked the army and got what they deserved. The result was that there was minimal public sympathy with the Copts.
In Egyptian homes, viewers were greeted by the State TV literally instigating against the Coptic community. It called upon honourable Egyptians to go and defend members of the Army which was being attacked by the Copts.
Mahmoud Youssef, a news presenter with the Egyptian TV, wrote on Twitter denouncing the biased coverage and instigation of Egyptian TV against the Copts. “I wash my hands of what is being broadcast by Egyptian TV,” he wrote. He was joined by another presenter, Dina Rasmy.
Monday morning, however, the coverage took a different turn. State TV declared a day of mourning for those who died in Maspero, openly admitting that the coverage of the previous day had been come under heavy criticism from the public.
On social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, many Muslims joined the Copts in denouncing the brutality with which Copts were treated as well as the absurdities propagated by Egyptian TV. Bloggers posted video clips that captured the details of the horrendous attack in Maspero. A number of them deplored the fact that no official gave any statement or made any public appearance following the incident. Some explicitly expressed their discontent with the military rule.
“What happened is a crime against humanity. Field Marshall Tantawy and the Military Council are responsible for it”. Strategic expert and Coptic activist Emad Gad said on Nile News channel. “This could be a prelude to a civil war,” he said.
Bitter disappointment
On the official level, General Hamdi Badeen, head of the Military Police declared that what happened will not affect the morale of the Egyptian Army which is ready to offer more martyrs if needs be.
The Premier Essam Sharaf said on a phone a call with the Egyptian TV that the sorrowful incident at Maspero is but part of a big plan to overthrow and divide the State. He called on everyone to exercise self-restraint, promising that the State would not let these incidents pass without investigation. He said that citizenship does differentiate between Muslim and Christian, stressing that both the Military Council and the State are with the right of all Egyptians to build places of worship.
Last Tuesday, deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hazem al-Biblawi handed in his resignation to protest the way the government handled the Sunday demonstrations.
Wednesday saw anger and bitter disappointment spread among the Copts in the wake of a press conference about the Maspero incident held by the Military Council. The military denied the killing of the Copts by the army using armoured trucks or arms, and insisted the protesters had antagonised the soldiers, and possessed firearms, live ammunition, gas cylinders and Molotov cocktails. Yet most talk shows on TV channels that evening revealed that many saw the Military Council’s defence as lame, and put the army in the light of either being incapable or criminal.
The Orthodox Church expressed its reservations over the allegations of the military. When asked for a comment, a Church source said, “We have nothing to say except that God is there, and He sees.”
Reported by Georgette Sadeq, Maged Samir, Robeir al-Faris, Nader Shukry, Michael Victor, Milad Zaky, Nermine Michel