CAIRO: Potential Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa said that passing a new houses of worship law would helps solve the tension that has burst forth in Egypt after October 9′s military attack on peaceful Coptic Christian protesters. He said a Unified Worship Places Law would allow “Christians to build churches in Egypt under the same laws governing the building of mosques.” The former Arab League chief continued that a new law would “prevent” another Maspero incident from appearing in Egypt. On October 9, thousands of Coptic Christians marched through Cairo's streets, demanding an investigation into an attack on a southern Egyptian house of worship in late September and greater rights in the country. The few thousand protesters then arrived at the Egyptian state television and radio building, where the military opened fire on the protesters and ran them over with armored vehicles, killing at least 26 and injuring hundreds others. The official story from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is that the protesters opened fire and attacked the military, who in turn defended themselves from the attack. Eyewitnesses and Bikyamasr.com can confirm the Coptic Protesters were not carrying any weapons at the time of the initial violence. Moussa added that the country “must solve these internal struggles to protect national and internal security.” During a meeting with his presidential campaign managers in his office in Dokki, Moussa said that blame “should not be placed on foreign elements or thugs.” Controversially, Moussa said that he was unsure of the proposed Treason Laws, which would ban former members of the ruling-National Democratic Party (NDP) from participating in upcoming elections and politics. He said that those not involved in political corruption under the Hosni Mubarak regime should be allowed to enter politics. Addressing the issue of the military council's control of the Egyptian government, Moussa said he was “sure the military council would hand over power to a civilian authority in no more than one year.” He added that the SCAF does “not want to prevent the democratic process and is concerned about economic recovery for Egypt.” BM
