CAIRO: Egypt's National Council for Human Rights announced its report on the events of October 9, where 27 Coptic Christian protesters were killed and hundreds more injured outside the State TV building, also known as Maspero. The report said that “anonymous” elements shot at the protesters. The council said they collected many conflicting testimonies from that night. However, the council confirmed that 17 deaths were a result of armored army vehicles running over protesters. The report said that the protesters were peaceful, only carrying wooden and plastic crosses, but added that there were stones thrown after victims started fallen. They said that the army guarding the building welcomed the protesters by firing in the air, but gun shots started hitting people that were “not fired” by the military. The report added that “anonymous” individuals riding motorbikes were behind the shootings. Egypt's ruling military council has supported this story from early on following the violence at a press conference saying that the military guards outside Maspero were “unarmed” and were attacked by “thugs” who opened fire at the troops. The NCHR advised the authorities to catch the criminals behind the shooting as quickly as possible. On October 9, thousands of Copts and a few Muslims marched from the Shubra residential area of Cairo to the state TV building in downtown Cairo, demanding their rights and waving Egyptian flags and crosses before they were attacked by the military guarding the building. Online videos posted by activists and circulated in the media show protesters being attacked and chased by military soldiers. The NCHR report condemned State TV for the way it portrayed the events, saying they reported it as if the Coptic protesters were attacking the military, which drove some Egyptians from their homes, armed with knives and sticks in defense of the military, which incited and intensified the violence. The report called for a criminal investigation of officials in Maspero for “inciting to kill is a crime, punishable by law.” The NCHR also called for an independent fact checking mission as the one appointed by the government was headed by the minister of justice. The minister of information formed a committee previously, which concluded that the coverage was a “provocational error.” Egypt was in an uproar over what is now dubbed as the “Maspero massacre” and the violence that occured that night only highlights the gap between the state, headed by the military council, and the Coptic community from one side and Muslims on the another. BM
