The police have announced a state of emergency in al-‘Udaysāt village in the Upper Egyptian city of Luxor after the death of a man who sustained injuries during recent clashes between Muslims and Copts. Mosque imāms in the village called for peace and unity during their weekly Friday sermons.
A medical source at the Luxor International Hospital announced the death of Kamāl Shākir Mujalla‘, 45, of a brain hemorrhage. Sawt al-Umma, January 23, 2006, stated that the clashes left about 17 persons wounded, mostly Copts. Strict security measures were imposed on the village lest fresh clashes should erupt between Muslims and Copts there.
The limited clashes were widely rejected by both Muslims and Christians. Muhammad Jamīl, head of the Luxor City Council, said the persons who incited such confrontations, be they Muslim or Christian, are "saboteurs".
Ibrāhīm Armānyus, a key Coptic figure in al-‘Udaysāt, said the sedition is a loss for both sides. Mamdouh Philip, the chairman of the Luxor Businessmen’s Association, said the people of Luxor are peaceful, adding that peace will certainly be restored to the village.
The incidents erupted after a guest house in the village was turned into a church without a prior official license. Some young men set fire to plantations adjacent to the guest house, prompting frictions between the two sides. According to al-Usbou‘ of January 23, 2006, earlier in the day of the clashes, a businessman in Luxor had phoned Copts in al-‘Udaysāt to tell them that he had secured a license to inaugurate the Virgin Mary Church in the village and that coordination with the security agencies was in place.
A member of parliament for Luxor said that some 30 Muslims and Christians have been arrested so far and the search is still on for on-the-run suspects, believed to have been involved in the quarrels that left four people injured. He said the chief of Luxor city council and the security director have met with leaders of the Luxor church to try to appease the situation.
In a Friday sermon delivered in Aswan, the grand imām of the Azhar, Shaykh Muhammad Sayyid Tantāwi said it was incumbent on scholars and clerics to fight sedition and to urge the people to join forces for the good of the nation (Al-Sharq al-Awsat of January 21, 2006).
Bishop Yu’annis, the secretary of Pope Shenouda III, the Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, said the pope was following up the incidents in al-‘Udaysāt, adding the pope has sent seven archbishops and bishops to pray for the citizen who was killed in the clashes.
A Christian cleric said that on the eve of Epiphany, a large number of Muslims, incited by mobs, disconnected the power and besieged the church while chanting slogans of jihād. He claimed that they assaulted Coptic citizens randomly, which resulted in the killing of Mujalla‘ whom they hit with an axe and whose body was later trampled under their feet (Watanī of January 22, 2006).
The cleric said that some Muslims managed to climb to the roof of the church and take away the cross, while others threw Molotov cocktails at the church. Only around midnight, several hours after the incidents broke out, and after numerous calls for help, security forces intervened and fire engines and ambulances arrived at the scene hours, he said.
The Virgin Mary Church in the al-‘Udaysāt village dates back to 1970 and is built over an area of 400 meters. About 8,000 Copts inhabit the village and the next closest church is the Saints’ Monastery Church, which is located 20 kilometers away. According to Sawt al-Umma, January 23, 2006, Copts in al-‘Udaysāt have been denied permission to build a church since 1971.
The interior ministry has issued a statement on the Luxor incidents in which it said persons who assembled to protest against the guest house being turned into a church have set fire to some plantations and waste ground next to the church, but that security forces managed to put out the fire and protect the guest house. Calm was restored to the troubled village after security reinforcements were sent there upon orders from Major General Muhammad Nour, Assistant Interior Minister for Luxor Security (Al-Akhbār of January 20, 2006).
