A group of Coptic activists on Tuesday accused the cabinet and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) of ignoring Coptic rights. The Maspiro Youth Union blamed interim Prime Minister Essam Sharaf for “violence suffered by Copts.” Since the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak in February, Egypt has witnessed several incidents of sectarian violence, with some leading to several deaths and injuries. The group's executive member, Antoine Adel, said in a press conference on Tuesday that Sharaf failed to honor his promises to Copts following their second sit-in on Cairo's Maspiro Street. Dozens of Copts staged a sit-in in May outside the state TV building in Maspiro, demanding the prosecution of suspects behind assaults on Egyptian churches. The sit-in followed the death of 12 people in clashes between Christians and Muslims on 8 May in Imbaba, which had been fueled by rumors that a female who converted to Islam was being held in a church in the same district. Adel said the union plans to march at 4 pm on Tuesday from Shubra, north of Cairo, to the Maspiro building. He also revealed that Muslims and members of other political groups will be attending the demonstration. Adel threatened that the group will go back to protest at Maspiro over a recent attack on a church in Aswan Governorate's village of Edfu on Friday. "The attack on the Aswan church was encouraged by the government's and the SCAF's negligence of Copts' rights following the demolishing of two other churches in Helwan last March," Adel said. “There are hard-line groups that target Copts and their churches,” said Ramy Kamel, the union's general coordinator. Translated from the Arabic Edition
