CAIRO: Coptic anger and tension continued this week, following the attack on a church in Nag Hammadi that left 7 killed on the eve of Coptic Christmas January 7. Hundreds of young Copts gathered for the second day in row on Tuesday, at St. George Church in Kafr el-Dawar some three hours north of Cairo, to protest what they called the abduction of a Coptic Girl by a young Muslim man in an area village, highlighting the ongoing battle between Copts and Muslims in Egypt. The Coptic Youth said that a man named Mohammed Hassan al-Shahat kidnapped Christina Reyad, 19, in Kafr al-Dawar. Hundreds of young Copts chanted and shouted in the church saying: “where are the rights of the Christians? Where are you, Pope Shenouda; they kidnapped a girl, we sacrifice our soul and blood for your sake, Christina!” Priest Astephanos, the Pastor of St. George, said that negotiations were still continuing with the security services, but it had not produced any real results, pointing out that electricity was unplugged for 5 minutes, in order to disperse the demonstrators so that the security could control the events. Astephanos said that the girl went missing on Sunday, and has a close relationship with the sister of the young Muslim man who lives in a rural village Kafr el-Dawar. He said that the family of the girl registered an official communication at the police station accusing the young Muslim of kidnapping their daughter and attempts are being made now with security, which asked the protesters to remain calm. Meanwhile, the demonstrations and protests of Copts abroad continued over the events that took place on the Eve of the Coptic Christmas, when gunmen fired upon worshipers at a local church in Upper Egypt, killing 6 Copts and a Muslim security guard and wounding dozens more. Two new protests took place in California and Rome, one in front of the Federal Building in California and the other in the Italian Capital, where hundreds wore black clothes signifying mourning, gathered and Pope Barnabas Seryani, along with a group of priests and monks of the Coptic Church in Italy with the participation of Catholic Priests headed the protest “to express their indignation and condemnation of the incident,” demanding a solution to problems of the Copts in Egypt and condemning the state's inability to protect the Copts. In France, Coptic Organizations called on Copts to participate in a planned demonstration for January 16. They said in their calls that despite all the global movement and despite all the appeals, “the Egyptian regime will not act to protect our people in Egypt, unless we pressure for this.” In the same context, the Copts of Austria said that the incident in Nag Hammadi is another Kosh incident, referring to the incident of Kosh, when 21 Copts were killed on December 31, 1999. The Copts of Austria added in its statement that “violence is repeated and human rights are being violated and no one takes a stance.” The group added in its statement issued Monday, that every organization and every official in Egypt “had to move and did not do it, then he is one of the culprits, as the Ministry of Interior is responsible for that at all levels, since it didn’t maintain security in spatial terms after the accident took place in the main street and commercial road in Nag Hammadi.” The statement added that the conviction should, as well, include all educational and cultural media and religious institutions. “Instead of planting the love between the citizens, it contributed to a great extent in the widespread hate atmosphere that refuses to accept the other and the spread of the culture of violence and shedding blood,” the statement continued. The statement said that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should have condemned the incident publicly and to address the Copts, “instead of congratulating them for their feast,” adding that Mubarak should have denounced this criminal act and given orders to bring the culprits to justice in order to protect the security of Egypt. Amnesty International has accused the Egyptian authorities of failing in the incident of Nag Hammadi. The organization said in a statement entitled “The Egyptian authorities are failing to protect religious minorities” that the Coptic minority in Egypt is subject to “repeated threats and demanded taking necessary measures to protect the Copts, to conduct serious investigations to achieve justice.” Amnesty condemned the failure of the Egyptian authorities to protect the Copts, despite the successive threats to the Copts of Nag Hammadi before the incident took place, pointing out a notable absence of security forces in the area, “which are usually deployed in streets and are very abundant to secure the churches in the holiday season.” The London-based human rights organization added that the terrorist attack is the bloodiest against Christians since the 1999 incident and noted that security forces fired tear gas to disperse a demonstration of the Copts in front of the morgue, saying that the Egyptian authorities “are not doing enough to protect or prosecute offenders and aggressors and bringing them to justice.” BM
