The tragic death of Coptic protesters underlines the need for a prompt end to the increasingly confused transition, Dina Ezzat reports "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.
