Angry Coptic demonstrations took place yesterday in Saint Mark Cathedral protest against the Christmas Eve attacks in Naj‘ Hammādī. Newspapers reported on the demonstration of 3000 Copts at Saint Mark's Cathedral, the papal residency, in Cairo. Demonstrators shouted, hailing MP Georgette Qillīnī’s “brave” stance towards the incidents. They also shouted against Governor Majdī Ayyūb of Qena, calling for him to be sacked from his position. Demonstrators also called on Bishop Kyrillos not to give up, expressing their rejection of reconciliation.
Pope Shenouda III was at his window trying to calm the angry protesters, who shouted demanding that he express his opinion about the incident. Al-Dustūr reported thata number of Coptic expatriates also participated in the demonstrations. Makram Khalīl, an expatriate in Italy who is visiting Egypt, told al-Dustūr that he was participating to call on President Mubārak to release the Coptic people “kidnapped by the police” in the aftermath of the attacks and to express his denunciation of the incidents.
29 Muslims and Christians had been arrested after the riots that took place in al-Bahjūrah village in the aftermath of the Christmas attacks in Naj‘ Hammādī.
The angry Coptic demonstrations took place before Pope Shenouda’s Wednesday sermon in which the pope offered his condolences to the families of the victims of Naj‘ Hammādī. He also called those present to calm down and trust the Egyptian jurisprudence, stating that Coptic and Muslim blood ran mingled in the criminal incident [Referring to the Muslim soldier who was guarding the church and defied in the attack. It should be noted that a police guard is assigned at the entrance of every church in Egypt.]
Pope Shenouda wept during the sermon, that did not last more that ten minutes before being disrupted by the cries of the angry demonstrators. Thousands of Copts gathered outside as the doors closed at the packed-out cathedral hall.
Al-Shurūq of January 14, 2010 reported that demonstrators had accused the security forces of being involved in the attacks. They also called for the trial of MP ‘Abd al-Rahīm al-Ghūl, accusing him of inciting the crime.
Yesterday, news was reported about the National Council for Human Rights session that was held to discuss the results of the fact-finding committee that the council had sent to investigate the incidents in Najc Hammādī. The committee presented its report to the council, however it was not adopted and distributed due to the strong language used by MP Georgette Qillīnī against Governor Majdī Ayyūb. The report will be reworded before being issued and distributed with the other report prepared by the committee of lawyers and researchers on the same incident. [For more information about the session of the National Council for Human Rights see AWR press review on Naj‘ Hammādī, No, V].
Al-Misrī al-Yawm reported that the National Council of Human Rights had called on the government to question the culprits and all those involved in the Naj‘ Hammādī incidents regardless of their rank or position. It also called for questioning those who had incitesd the attack, as well as the culprits.
The council also called for compensation for the families of the victims of violence and terrorism. It suggested the crime was particularly dangerous, because the killers were not members of a known group or organization, causing concern over the “political environment that surrounds these people.” The council recommended passing an urgent law for houses of worship.
MP Georgette Qillīnī responded to Bishop Kyrillos’ criticism. According to al-Dustūr, Qillīnī slammed Bishop Kyrillos’ criticism against her, stating that the report of the National Council for Human Rights’ committee was not her personal opinion, but that of all the members, pointing out that she was the only Coptic member in the committee.
Qillīnī stated that she was not going to respond to Bishop Kyrillos’ accusations out of respect for the Coptic public. In al-Dustūr’s article, Bishop Kyrillos reportedly accused Qillīnī of lying and called her “the face of doom.”
Al-Wafd reported Qillīnī’s discontentment about Bishop Kyrillos' statements against her. She also criticized his alleged statements that she lacked reason and religion. Qillīnī considers Bishop Kyrillos' latest statements to be hypocritical complements to Muslims.
Father ‘Abd al-Masīh Basīt, lecturer of apologetics, expressed his support for Qillīnī, adding that history will remember Majdī Ayyūb as the worst governor, and as a man who caused the Copts’ humiliation. He added that Christian women lack neither reason nor religion, and that Bishop Kyrillos had exonerated the guilty, and violated the Holy Book. Father Basīt called on Bishop Kyrilos to leave Qillīnī to her political work and stick to his tasks as a clergyman.
‘Abd al-Wahāb Sha‘bān of al-Wafd stated that Bishop Kyrillos has committed two mistakes; the first when he declared that he was personally targeted by the attack, and that he informed the police a month before the attacks. The other was his contradictory stances represented in the reconciliation with Governor Majdī Ayyūb, who visited the bishopric for the first time in four years.
Al-Dustūr reported Amnesty International’s condemnation of the attack against Copts in Naj‘ Hammādī. The international organization declared that Egypt has failed to provide sufficient protection to Copts, noting the clear absence of the security forces usually present around houses of worship. Amnesty International called on Egypt to conduct a fair trial and thorough investigation, and to take the suitable procedures to protect religious minorities and protect Copts against repeated attacks.
Elsewhere, al-Shurūq reported on the National Democratic Party’s attempts to broker reconciliation in Naj‘ Hammādī, and al-Akhbār reported that an announcement would be made soon about the results of the suspects' interrogation.
Al-Wafd’s Yāsir Shūráreflected on the visit of Ahmad ‘Izz to Qena, stating that the visit was intended to improve the National Democratic Party image, which was tarnished in the incidents following allusions of the involvement of party leadership in the attacks.
Shūrástated that ‘Izz succeeded in reconciling Bishop Kyrillos both with the governor of Qena and with ‘Abd al-Rahīm al-Ghūl..
In a related context, Rose al-Yūsuf published news about the expected visit of the Grand
Imām Muhammad Sayyid Tantāwī and Dr. Mahmūd Hamdī Zaqzūq, Egypt’s minister of endowments, to Qena at the head of a delegation of Islamic religious leaders to offer their condolences following Friday prayers in Naj‘ Hammādī.
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