LONDON: The Archbishop of Canterbury lashed out at the Egyptian military over the violence it perpetrated against the country's Coptic Christians on October 9 that left at least 27 people dead and hundreds wounded. Rowan Williams told Britain's House of Lords the Egyptian military must remain at a “proper distance” from an inquiry into the deaths. However, his comments come a week after the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) in Egypt announced they would take over the investigation from independent investigators, which sparked an outcry from activists. Foreign Office minister Lord Howell agreed to put pressure on the Egyptian government to get to the truth. Archbishop Williams said part of the underlying problem was a “prolonged failure by the security forces to guarantee the safety of Christian personnel and property.” He called on ministers to press the Egyptian government to make sure the inquiry into the deaths was characterised by objectivity and “proper distance of that inquiry from the military establishment”. Lord Howell said Williams was absolutely right about the long history of the “pressures and difficulties” as well as the “recent evidence of a rising tide of extremism in the clashes that have occurred.” He added: “I can only reassure you that the dialogue continues, the pressure is on.” The military fired upon protesters, and ran them over with military vehicles. Thousands of Copts had gathered for the evening to protest the burning of a church in Edfu, Aswan on September 30. Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf gave an address to the nation early Monday morning, calling the clashes, “a conspiracy to bring down the state and not sectarian violence.” Some families of the deceased demanded autopsies for the bodies of their sons and daughters to determine the cause of their deaths. In the coronary report of one victim, the cause of death was reported as “fights between citizens.” Things on Sunday intensified after the military issued a statement on national TV, urging citizens to take to the street and “help protect the army against Coptic attacks.” Eyewitness told Bikyamasr.com that the call drove armed men from their houses to protect the army, believing that Copts were attacking the military and attempting to kill officers. This later turned out to be entirely false. One injured man at the scene told Bikyamasr.com that rumors about Copts burning copies of the Qur'an spread in the Cairo neighborhood Bolaq, near downtown. In response to the rumors, men took arms and “went out to defend Islam,” the injured man said. He asked not to be identified. He had a broken arm, and his head was injured and bleeding, yet he refused to go to the hospital for fear of getting arrested. He added that he and friends saw a corpse of man lying under the bridge near downtown and wanted to move it, but were stopped and assaulted by residents armed with bats and guns. Eyewitnesses by Maspero said that residents from neighboring areas came in to aid the military, and burned several cars near the building. The army, however, claims that Coptic protesters were the ones responsible for vandalized public property and attacks against soldiers, a notion that Copts and eyewitnesses strongly deny. “We were not armed and not at any point did any of us hold a gun. This was a peaceful protest that suddenly turned bloody after the military attacked us,” Mina, a protester who fled the violence in Maspero and took refuge in Tahrir, told Bikyamasr.com. “They were killing us even after we shouted “silmya, silmya” or “peaceful, peaceful,” he added. ** Manar Ammar contributed to this report. BM
