The village of al-Amoudin in Samalout, Minya, some 250km south of Cairo, is quiet now following police clashes with Copts on 4 December. Dozens of Copts were then demonstrating to demand the return of 17-year-old Mirna Barsoum Aziz who had gone missing two days earlier. The demonstrators shouted “Mirna should be back,” and “We want our girl back”.
The police moved to the village and, according to an eyewitness from the girl’s family, fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, which created a state of panic in the village. Twenty-two Copts were caught and are under investigation.
Aziz, a secondary school student, had left her home on 2 December to attend a private lesson but never came back. A police source she had been tracked on surveillance cameras riding a tuk-tuk heading to the nearby village of Attsa where she disembarked and was not seen on camera since. The tuk-tuk driver was questioned and said that she then took a ride to the city of Minya. The source said she was found and will be returned to her family once investigations and legal proceedings are done.
The police asked the villagers and the girl’s family to be patient, stressing that she would return home soon.
Watani International
6 November 2021
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