Maspero: The Burden of Remembering

Source:
Daily News Egypt
Date of source:
7 Oct 2015

Coptic activist Mina Ibrahim describes the terrible tragedy that happened at Maspero on October 9, 2012, resulting in over 25 Coptic deaths and the need to remember them. Sadly, however, Mina Ibrahim got a number of his facts wrong. I thus posted the following comment on Daily News Egypt:

I fully understand that the death of over 25 Coptic Christians at Maspero was dramatic. I agree with Mina Ibrahim’s statement that armed vehicles (not “the” army) ran over demonstrators. But much several statements of Mina Ibrahim are inaccurate. Many Copts moved out of the protection of its clerical hierarchy but the clergy were major leaders of the march on October 9, 2011. One of our researchers made a very extensive overview of all videos we could find at the time.

 

The protests were indeed organized in respond to the burning of a church under construction in Marinab, Edfu, Aswan. There was no demolition of an “80-year old” church. I was with an Egyptian intern of ours in Marinab the day after the burning and described in detail what we then found, that is the burning of a church under construction. Copts in Marinab earlier had a simple place for prayer but not a building that had the clear appearance of a church from the outside, with domes and steeples. I was also at the demonstrations at Maspiro and cannot but conclude that demonstrating Copts, with all the good intentions they had, had no idea what had happened in Marinab. They believed the black and white stories as they were heard at the time and had no idea that the story of Marinab was much more complicated than they had been told. It is sad that people like Mina Ibrahim still do not know what exactly happened in Marinab and continue telling stories that are over simplified and even partly not true (“80 year old”).

 

I believe Pope Shenouda;s statement on “infiltrators” or other called them thugs to be correct. This is a very good eyewitness story of someone who saw from his balcony what was happening: http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/year-2012/week-13/24-eyewitness-maspero.

 

The story about the autopsies is sad. The role of state television terrible. Remembering the victims is needed.

 

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