The tension between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria is far from over -- or so it seems. Salonaz Sami reports The causes of the sectarian tension that erupted last week between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria's Muharram Bek neighbourhood have not been resolved. A stifling atmosphere is still very much in the air, symbolised by the armoured vehicles and anti-riot security personnel guarding the neighbourhood's narrow alleyways. It was the worst Muslim-Christian violence Egypt has seen in years. Last Friday, thousands of Muslims gathered in front of the Saint George Coptic Church to protest what they said was a play that defamed Islam. Shouting Islamist slogans, they tried to storm the church itself. The resulting mêlée ended with three of the protestors dead, and 143 injured. Cars and shops in the neighbourhood were destroyed, and some 105 people arrested. The play -- called I was blind but now I can see -- first appeared on the public's radar screen courtesy of Al-Midan, a tabloid newspaper famous for its lurid and controversial stories. The paper reported that the Alexandria church had put on the play, which tells the story of a poor Christian university student who converts to Islam after a group of Muslim men offer him money to do so. When the convert later decides to return to Christianity, the same Muslims then threaten him with violence. The article claimed that CDs featuring the performance were being distributed in the neighbourhood. Friday's violent protest was preceded -- a week earlier -- by a more peaceful incident involving about 3,000 Muslims demonstrating in front of the church and demanding an apology. Provoked by the article, the angry crowd said the church and Pope Shenouda -- the patriarch of Egypt's Coptic community -- must issue an apology. Local police were quickly deployed in the hundreds, and within a few hours, the demonstration had been dispersed. The issue, however, was far from resolved. A few days later, a young Muslim man stabbed and seriously wounded a nun. According to Father Augustinous, the Saint George Church's head pastor, a man in his early 20s stabbed the nun in the chest, seriously injuring her lungs. The woman is currently in hospital, her condition said to be stable. Another male Coptic worshipper was also injured in the attack, but suffered minor injuries. The attacker is currently in custody. These two incidents were merely the lead up, however, to the major violence that took place last Friday. The tense atmosphere was complicated when security forces deployed around the church and nearby mosque prevented thousands of worshippers from performing their Friday prayers. According to eyewitnesses speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, the police presence "added fuel to the fire." In the angry crowd's view, it was an attempt by the state to "protect the church that [allegedly] defamed Islam, to please the [Copts] at Islam's expense." Many of the worshippers ended up performing their prayers in the side streets around the church; afterwards, they gathered on both sides of the cordoned-off street and started shouting Islamic slogans like, "We would sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam," and "There is no God but Allah," as they tried to push their way towards the church. The police reportedly used sticks, tear gas, and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, who -- according to security reports -- were throwing stones and trashcans at the police. The protesters managed to break the church's windows and smash cars parked nearby. Residents are stunned at how quickly the events unfolded, and are wondering what the future will hold. Mohamed Hussein told Al-Ahram Weekly that what happened was "really sad. We have been living together as one big family, Muslims and Christians, for all of our lives, but now things will never be the same." Hussein said the crowd that tried to attack the church was "trying to punish hundreds of people just because a few dozen people may have been at fault -- and that's not the spirit of Islam, which is a religion of forgiveness." Another resident, housewife Samia Ali, agreed that, "violence is not the appropriate way to solve anything. I don't believe that Christians would do anything to defame Islam. We shouldn't jump to conclusions; there needs to be a dialogue to investigate the truth first." The tension has certainly left Alexandria's Coptic community scared. One resident, Nader Sadek, told Al-Ahram Weekly that his entire family is scared to death that someone might find out that "one of my relatives worked on the play," and target them for violence. That family member -- a 22-year-old amateur actor -- "was sent to the monastery in Wadi Al-Natroun two weeks ago, along with the rest of the actors." The play, performed at the Saint George Church's theatre two years ago, featured the church's chorus and a group of young Christian actors who attended the church's Sunday school. Although no big deal was made about it at the time, an anonymous individual recorded the performance and subsequently distributed it on CDs. Other residents of Muharrem Bek told the Weekly that they had never before felt threatened by their Muslim neighbours. In fact, they had always felt protected by their presence. "Demonstrators destroyed my shop and were going to kill my son and I," said Atef El-Menshawy, whose shop was destroyed in Friday's riots. "My Muslim neighbours were the ones who stood up to them and saved me." El-Menshawy said he wasn't even sure the attackers were Muslims. "I didn't see anyone with a beard, and I am sure that they are neither Muslims, nor from Alexandria. I have been living with Muslims all my life, and all of them are compassionate and kind; none of them would ever do such an aggressive thing," he said. The events in Alexandria represent the bloodiest sectarian tension Egypt has seen since 2000, when 23 Christians were killed after an argument between a Coptic shopkeeper and a Muslim customer in the village of Al-Kosheh degenerated into street battles with rifles and other weapons. The incidents in Muharrem Bek also come on the heels of several high profile incidents involving Copts demonstrating over alleged forced conversions to Islam, the most famous of which centred around a bishop's wife named Wafaa Constantine. Reacting to the Alexandria tension, Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi and Pope Shenouda III head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, issued a joint statement urging Muslims and Christians to resort to dialogue instead of violence. Local political leaders and security officials are laying the blame on Islamists who, they said, were trying to score points with the public in the lead up to next month's parliamentary elections. Analysts said Islamists might have catalysed the conflict to sully the reputation of Maher Khellah, a Coptic Christian running on the ruling National Democratic Party's (NPD) ticket in Alexandria's impoverished Ghorbal district. Khellah, one of only two Copts running as NDP candidates nationwide, has been in negotiators with the NDP over whether or not he should withdraw from the race. "This violence is not about the [play], it is all about the elections," Khellah said. In any case, "the play was not offensive to Islam, because its converted Christian character was saved by his Muslim friend". The Coptic Church has also strongly denied that the play ever targeted Islam, saying its primary target was religious extremism. "Copts would never tolerate anyone insulting Islam," one bishop was quoted as saying. The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, condemned the protesters as "fanatic elements" who had "escalated a negative reaction to a play". The 105 people arrested during the clashes will remain in custody for 15 days pending further investigations. They are facing charges including the destruction of both public and private property.
