MASSACRE OF THE COPTS

BARAK OBAMA AND WILLIAM HAGUE

ON THE MASPERO MASSACRE OF THE COPTS

By Dioscorus Boles

ON 9 10 11 THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIAN COPTS gathered at Maspero, the State TV, which has become a focal point for peaceful protest following the 25 January 2011 Revolution. They were protesting the ransacking of a Coptic church in Aswan; the complicity of the Aswan Governor and his local security forces; and the lack of any response from current Egypt rulers, headed by Field-Marshal Muhammad Hussain Tantawi, in taking an action to address the injustice. The response which the Coptic people, estimated at 15 million strong, got from Egypt’s rulers was unprecedented in Egypt’s modern history: they allowed the national army to attack the an armed civilians which culminated in the killing of over 25 Copts – some of whom were run over by military vehicles, and many bodies tossed into the Nile River in a failed trial to conceal the massacre. In a shocking development, Egyptian TV stations, which are run by the Ministry for Information, presented the attacks in a reverse way as an attack by the Copts against the national Egyptian military, and asked the Muslims of Egypt to get out on the streets to protect their army. Consequently, in many places in Egypt, Muslims set upon Copts and beat them. I do not intend to give full account here of the Maspero Massacre (also called the Coptic Bloody Sunday; the Massacre of the Copts by the Egyptian Army; the 9 10 11 Massacre) – I will simply produce below a few links that can help him in understanding the origin of the problem and the events that had led to the massacre. Read more