CAIRO: Egypt's interim ruling military council, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), is sticking to its official narrative about the violence witnessed at the October 9 Maspero protest, in which 27 Egyptian demonstrators were killed and 300 were injured, dismissing military responsibility for the events. On Wednesday, SCAF's Generals Mohamed al-Attar and Mahmoud Hegazy interviewed live with Mona al-Shazly and Ibrahim Eissa, two prominent Egyptian TV correspondents, to discuss the events at Maspero. “It was done by a foreign sect, and we are after them. We will get them. The security forces are working night and day to find those responsible,” said SCAF General Mohamed El-Attar. “The armed forces were targeted just like the Copts. The forces were unarmed,” he said, continuing with the official military narrative that outside aggressors sparked the night's violence. When confronted with questions regarding video and eye witness reports of army soldiers running over protesters with military vehicles, the military generals continued with their official story that soldiers acted in self defense. “The driver was watching the other armored trucks as they were set on fire, and other truck drivers getting pulled out. He was in self defense mode, he was defending himself,” he recounted, despite footage from unnerving videos showing army tanks aiming for protesters. Mahmous Hegazy continued the story, dismissing claims that the violence at the protest was associated with Egypt's rising sectarian tensions. “It is wrong to associate the high number of casualties with the fact that they were Christians,” he explained. He then went on to reference the thousands of workers on strike across Egypt, who are demanding fair wages and work conditions. “People need to calm down and understand that the state and the government is incapable of answering all demands at the moment. We need to calm so that tourism returns,” he said. Many in Egypt have rising doubts that the SCAF is set to hand over power to a democratically elected, civilian government as they once promised. BM
