CAIRO - “Your right will not be lost. We remember you. We remember your smile. Rest in peace.” With these words, hundreds of activists have paid tribute to Meena Daniel, who was among 26 people killed in clashes with army and security forces in Cairo on October 9. Daniel, a 25-year-old Copt, had survived death twice in iconic Tahrir Square. But his third dicing with death proved fatal. “Meena was a staunch advocate of social justice because he was born into a poor family in the (Cairo) area of Ezbat el-Nakhl,” says his friend Rami Kamel. “In fact, social justice was the prime motive for Meena to take part in the January 25 revolution since its start,” Kamel adds, referring to a popular uprising that unseated long-standing president Hosni Mubarak in February. He miraculously escaped death when a sniper shot at him as he led a protest outside a mosque in Giza on January 28, 2011 known for Egyptians as the Day of Rage. Five days later, Daniel sustained a gunshot injury during an attack mounted by Mubarak's loyalists in what came to be known in the local media as the Battle of the Camel. On February 2, hordes of Mubarak's armed supporters, riding camels and horses assaulted pro-democracy protesters camping out in Tahrir Square. “He survived the bullets twice. The third time brought him down,” remembers his friend Kamel, who joined him and thousands of angry Copts in the October 9 protest. They were protesting the destruction of a church by Muslim militants in the southern Egyptian city of Aswan one week earlier. “The security troops positioned outside the TV building fired on an estimated 350,000 protesters after failing to cordon them off,” says Kamel. “The demonstrators were dispersed amidst chaos and panic, particularly when armoured vheicles waded across them. I didn't see him in the melee. Later, I learnt that Meena died of a gunshot in the head.” Few days after the deadly clashes, the ruling military council categorically denied army soldiers used their firepower against the protesters, accusing a “third party” of shooting at both the protesters and the military personnel. Daniel's grief-stricken friends have set up a Facebook page in his memory, called “We Are All Meena Daniel”. The page, drawing an increasing number of followers, features photos of Daniel showing him in anti-Mubarak protests and in marches held later to demand a civil state be established in Egypt. Activists, who were close to Daniel say his leftist leanings did not influence his appreciation and respect for other views. They also held a candle vigil in his memory and that of other victims of the widely condemned clashes Talaat Harb Square in central Cairo late Thursday. An active member of the protest group Youth for Justice and Freedom, Daniel is remembered for cherishing one big dream: to see post-Mubarak Egypt a better country where social justice and equality prevail. Having attended a passionate mass service for him and other victims inside a cathedral in Cairo last week, hundreds of Daniel's Coptic and Muslim friends carried his coffin to his favourite place: Tahrir Square. They marched with his body across the plaza several times in observance of his will.
