CAIRO - Despite the people's continuous manifestation of their right to have freedom of expression by holding demonstrations, the official mindset continues to reject such a means of expressing opinion and considers it a threat to the public security. This has always been the case, even before January 25 revolution when the security agency used live bullets against the protesters whose numbers exceeded their expectations. Accordingly the merely peaceful protest turned into a nationwide revolution. The Armed Forces soon became involved in the January 25 events on the sudden withdrawal of the security forces on January 28, with the subsequent rule of the country under the leadership of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). This ruling military council fell into the same trap on Sunday October 9, when it failed to forcefully confront protesting Copts, who were angered over the demolition of a village church in the Governorate of Aswan, other than by the use of violence. Since taking office, SCAF has constantly reiterated its protection of the revolution and the right to demonstrate. However, the cumulation of daily demonstrations organised by different sectors of society and the repeated sit-ins held by Copts over different sectarian events, together with the regular Friday demonstrations in Tahrir Square to raise public demands or oppose some governmental stands, seemed too much for SCAF to tolerate. We started to see violent reactions at the end of most of these demonstrations through the use of certain thugs who confront demonstrators on behalf of the military forces, the same means utilised by the security agency against peaceful protesters before the January revolution. The first time the ruling military council employed this weapon of the thug was at the Balloon Theatre in the Agouza district of Giza, when it allowed them to assault families of martyrs of the revolution who were seeking justice for the victims. Then came the most evident attack on the demonstrations when the march towards the SCAF headquarters on July 23 organised by members of the April 6 movement was curtailed by a trap. The marchers were besieged by the military forces from the front and by thugs ending with a demonstrator being killed and dozens of young people injured. The repeated violent assaults on the demonstrators by the thugs and then by the security and military forces have created a kind of rift between the revolutionaries on one hand and SCAF and the transitional government on the other. Calls were then raised to accelerate the election process to cut short the transitional period and the military rule of the country. However, there were still some voices warning against creating a division between the people and the Army, which they have continued to consider as the only shield for protecting the nation against schism and chaos. These voices are now fading away after the military forces became involved in the murder of some 25 Copts and injury of more than 300 in the tragic events that took place in the environs of the State Radio and Television building on Sunday, October 9. Although the Copts' demonstration had been announced two days earlier, the Armed Forces dealt with it as if it were an unexpected event. They lacked appropriate preparation and clear orders of self-restraint in the face of the angry Copts, who have seen an attack on a third church in Egypt since January 25 revolution in which they participated side by side with their Muslim brothers and sisters. Though investigation into the events have not yet started, many eyewitness testified to the sudden appearance of some armed thugs attacking the demonstrators, who responded by throwing stones at the military forces guarding the Maspero building. This is not the first occasion that thugs have been allowed to infiltrate a Coptic gathering in front of this Cairo landmark. But it is the first time the Armed Forces have responded in this violent way by running over demonstrators with its armoured vehicles as the security forces once did with the revolutionaries on January 28 and allegedly by using live bullets. Since that day popularly known as ‘The Friday of Wrath' relations between the citizens and the security forces suffered a deep rift. So how could this be the case now between the military forces and Egyptian citizens, especially the Copts who lost dozens of their young men in such a dire occurrence? How could the Copts, who form around 10 per cent of the Egyptian population, continue to see the Armed Forces as their protective shield after being targeted by some of its men at Maspero? Now, more and more people are convinced of the necessity of speeding up with holding the parliamentary and presidential elections so as to cut short the transitional period under the rule of SCAF. Nevertheless, this should not mean continuing to delay solving some chronic problems destabilising the country such as that of the Copts' right to build churches and protecting their places of worship. The most important step now is to hasten in punishing anyone attacking a church or a mosque and enforcing the rule of law on those transgressors so as to defuse tension and lessen the sense of discrimination growing in the minds of Copts in Egypt. The ruling military council and all governmental and civil society should work on healing wounds of the saddened Copts and to expedite procedures to resolve their problems and enforce the rule of law against anyone who dares to drag the country to the edge of sectarian sedition.
