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Death On a Birthday
Perhaps sadness and anger are the two words that best describe the recent events that caused a ruckus in the Egyptian Christian Coptic community both in Egypt and the United States. On Thursday, January 7, 2010, in a drive-by shooting outside a church in the southern town of Nag Hamadi in Qena province, three gunmen attacked worshippers as they left a midnight mass to celebrate Coptic Christmas, killing seven (according to the Coptic calendar, Christmas is celebrated on the 29th day of the month of "Kiahk," which is equivalent to January 7th).The seven people murdered during the shooting were all in their twenties, including a newly engaged couple and a Muslim security guard outside the church. Eleven others were injured and taken to a hospital in critical condition. Chaos quickly spread over Nag Hammadi as angry Copts gathered at the hospital to check on the conditions of the injured, while others mourned the deaths of the victims. Police efforts to calm the situation only added fuel to the fire, especially in light of the massive security shortcomings, highlighted by their failure to arrive on the scene until 40 minutes after the attack. Violence spread across the town with Muslims and Copts attacking one another and destroying each other's property.
This history of bigotry between these groups started in the early 70's after the Copts were not allowed to use a school as a temporary place of prayer. The intolerance from both sides has since escalated with each year becoming more violent and hateful, as both sides blame the other. The Copts, who represent only ten percent of Egypt's 85 million, allege they are constantly discriminated against. They claim they are the victims of random arrests in which they are held indefinitely, they are not allowed to build churches where they please, and they generally are not afforded the same rights as their fellow Muslim citizens. On the other hand, Muslims assert that the Copts are treated fairly and provided equal rights by the government. After having visited the country myself, I saw that there was a clear divide. Egyptians no longer referred to themselves by their nationality, but rather identified themselves and each other by their religion. Even in casual conversations and daily interactions one would refer to another as "Christian John or Muslim Ahmed," for example. The shooting in Nag Hammadi, however, caused quite the commotion simply because it was the most violent religious crime Egypt had witnessed in over a decade. Copts took their anger to the streets, protesting in Egypt, Italy, Holland, France, Australia, Greece, Los Angeles, and planned another demonstration for January 19th in front of the UN in New York.
Photo: Holland Protests
Photo: Italy Protests
Highly emotional videos and photos of the funerals along with some snapshots of the shooting were released on most Coptic news wires and YouTube further stoking the anger of an already emotional audience and increasing resentment. The reactions to this unfortunate situation underline the real issue: such violent events are not treated as isolated incidents of crime; rather, they simply trigger and validate the pre-existing notions of hate and discrimination from both sides.
Christine Soliman
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion or position of Concepts & Strategies, Inc.
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