It will take more than gestures to assuage the anger of Egypt's Copts, writes Dina Ezzat Almost two weeks after the killing of around 25 Copts during an anti- discrimination demonstration in front of the headquarters of state TV on 9 October confusion continues to surround the carnage. There is no clear plan to punish the killers, who remain unidentified, and no guarantees that root cause of the problem is being addressed. Immediately following the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' (SCAF) public denial during a press conference on 12 October of any culpability on the part of soldiers or military police in the killing of demonstrators protesting against the illegal demolition of churches, the Coptic Church questioned the council's version of events. Speaking hours after the press conference, Pope Shenouda denied that military police had been forced to defend themselves after demonstrators shot at them. "The demonstrators were not armed," he stated. The position of the Church has received support from across civil society, with videos emerging that purport to reveal the details of bloody Sunday. Among those providing filmed footage that appears to show that demonstrators did not shoot at the military was presidential runner Selim El-Awwa. The Islamist presidential hopeful said that videos he has seen clearly show the march was peaceful and its participants unarmed. He added that he had forwarded copies of the footage to the military prosecutor who is now in charge of the investigation. The fact that the investigation is now being dealt with by the military authorities has heightened fears that the results will be a whitewash of military involvement. On 9 October around 5,000 Copts began a march from Shubra to the headquarters of the TV building to demonstrate against the demolition of a church in Aswan at the hands of Muslim villagers thought to have been incited by a local preacher. The demolition of the Aswan church on 30 September apparently met with the approval of the governor of Aswan who was widely quoted as saying that "the Copts made a mistake and the Muslims rectified it." The demolition of the Aswan church is but one episode in the saga of forced demolitions of the places of worship of Copts, who represent up to a fifth of the population. Since December five churches have been demolished or burned down at the hands of angry mobs. "I would accept an independent investigation by a reputable group of Egyptian Muslims, but I cannot accept an investigation by the military prosecutor into events in which it is soldiers who are accused of murdering civilians," says Tadros, a 25-year-old Coptic activist demonstrating on Friday in front of the Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiya. Mohamed, a sympathising Muslim activist, said that "it makes no sense at all for the army, whose officers are accused of killing innocent demonstrators, to conduct the investigation." An independent fact-finding committee has started to investigate the circumstances surrounding the demolition of the Aswan church and the conduct of the governor. "Only the willfully blind could claim there is no anti-Coptic sentiment," said a source close to the committee. "This is not about a few individuals incited to act in the heat of the moment but about officials who are in charge of implementing the law. It is really disturbing what we have been finding," he said. On Sunday, a week after the carnage, the SCAF passed on an amendment to the penal code criminalising all forms of discrimination, including religious. The move was positively received by many political forces but met with scepticism in Coptic quarters, the church included. A source close to Pope Shenouda told Al-Ahram Weekly that the new amendment was largely symbolic. It was passed shortly before two SCAF representatives met with Pope Shenouda to offer condolences and to exchange views on "a set of measures to secure civil stability". During the meeting Pope Shenouda, says the source, "was very reserved and very abrupt". "He expressed dismay at the conditions faced by Copts in Egypt and said that he is praying to the Lord for peace and justice." The Coptic Patriarch turned down an invitation from the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar to attend a meeting of Beit Al-Aila (the Family House), a committee set up to promote national unity and whose latest action was to recommend a unified law on the construction of places of worship be abandoned in favour of a code "to regulate the construction of churches". "Pope Shenouda is no longer willing to go the extra mile of courtesy," said a source close to his office. He added that the patriarch had known all along that this unified code would never be passed "because the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar would not agree to any restrictions on the construction of mosques". The Coptic patriarch, the same source added, is a realist, and willing to settle for a set of reasonable rules governing the construction of churches rather than the current, convoluted process that requires permission from the head of state or his deputy. Any new code is likely to allow churches to be built within 10 kilometres of one another provided that there is a sizable Coptic community of no less than 500 individuals, according to one informed source. The code would also allow internal renovation of churches without extra permits but would require a new permit for external reconstructions that involve the expansion of the church. Meanwhile, the SCAF has promised the Coptic patriarch that closed churches can be opened and unlicensed churches currently open will be offered licences. There is no clear timeframe, however, either for the adoption of a new code for the construction of churches or for regulating those already built. For many Copts who spoke to the Weekly the issue is not about building or not building churches but about perceptions of Copts and their position in society. "As a Copt I feel rejected. I am not saying that every Muslim I meet is unkind to me, no, some are very kind, but I am talking in general, about the way I am treated by the grocer, the teachers at my sons' school, some of the neighbours, and so on," says Christine, a resident of Eizbat Al-Nakhl, an east Cairo rural-urban zone. "When your neighbours tell their children not to play with your children because they are Christians, when the teacher is always rough with your son at school and when you feel hostility in the looks of people in the bus or the underground when they see the cross on your wrist then you know you are un- wanted," says Viviane, a resident of Shubra. The many statements made by officials and intellectuals in support of national unity and Coptic-Muslim solidarity since the bloodbath of 9 October have failed to dispel the sentiments of Christine, Viviane and others who feel that they have turned from second class citizens to unwanted ones. "This is not something that you can fix by allowing the construction of a few more churches or by saying there is a law that prohibits discrimination. This is something that will only be fixed when anti-Coptic incitement is stopped, in mosques where radical preachers brainwash worshipers, on the TV, in police stations and in schools. And I don't see this happening," says Naguib, a Coptic resident of Heliopolis.
