CAIRO: Hundreds of Copts demonstrated yesterday in Samalout, Minya, following the murder of a Copt. At the same time, in Nazlet El Seman, Giza, a fire broke out on the roof of the Mari Girgis Church. Officials stressed that both incidents are criminal and are not sectarian. Milad Farag, a 23-year-old Copt, was killed in a fight with 22-year-old Muslim Khamis Eid. Following a personal disagreement, Eid reportedly stabbed Farag to death. Nabil Hanin, a Copt living in the same village, said this was a personal quarrel, stressing it wasn't sectarian. "Both are neighbors who had a fight, like all youth do. Sadly, it escalated this way. Hanin explained that police arrested the killer while the victim's family expressed their faith in the legal system. However, Farag's funeral, which was held yesterday, turned into a demonstration, in which the Coptic attendees expressed their anger. Security cordoned off the village in anticipation of possible escalations. Recent incidents in which Copts were killed or injured have increased concerns of pending sectarian strife, although officials stress that all accidents in question are criminal. On May 28, two masked men shot four Copts dead when they raided a jewelry shop at noon. It is still not clear whether the attack was a failed robbery, an act of revenge or part a campaign of sectarian violence. The following day, the majority of jewelry stores around Cairo, especially in Heliopolis, were each assigned two police officers to guard them, in addition to police rounds checking on the shops several times a day. On Saturday, clashes in Minya resulted in the death of one Muslim and left seven Copts, five of whom are monks, injured. The clashes had erupted due to a wall being built around the Abu Fana monastery, which neighbors claimed would harm their crops. A priest at the parish, Mussa Girgis, also claimed that three of the five injured monks were kidnapped and tortured after the attack. Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Patriarch of Alexandria and the See of St. Mark, had avoided discussing the attack on the Monastery during his weekly meeting with the Coptic congregation. During his 15-minute visit to check upon the injured monks in hospital, he refused to talk to journalists about the incident. The National Council for Human Rights announced on Thursday it would send a fact-finding mission to Minya to investigate the monastery attacks and determine the reasons behind it. The council called for the punishment of the perpetrators, regardless of their identities, according to the law.
