Midnight Praise raid

As the Copts of the Upper Egyptian town of Esna, north of Luxor, celebrated the traditional Kiyahk Midnight Praise on the eve of Sunday 16 December, the church of the holy Virgin, where a large congregation had gathered for worship, was attacked with stones and rocks. Kiyahk is the month which precedes Christmas and its Midnight Praise is a widely popular service distinguished by its characteristic tunes and melodies which are sung all through the night and conclude with Holy Mass at dawn. The attack on the church resulted in no casualties, but the mob which had initiated the attack fanned out on motorcycles in the streets of Esna attacking, torching, and plundering shops owned by Copts. The shops were closed since it was past nine o’clock in the evening, so the damage was limited to property and merchandise; the owners and workers had already left. The usual Muslim jihadi slogans of “There is no god but Allah” and “On to jihad” filled the Upper Egyptian cold night air. The rampage continued till the wee hours of dawn.

Damages
Some 26 shops were attacked, among them four supermarket stores, two hairdressers, five garment shops, and one that sells motor oils and one for electric appliances. The losses amount to a staggering figure of some two million Egyptian pounds, given that Egyptians normally do not have insurance or that insurance may not cover acts of civil unrest.
The “shrine of the three peasants”, a 4th-century shrine built to commemorate three Coptic Esna peasants who had been martyred during the Christian persecution in the third century, was attacked. Its domes were ruined and the crosses pulled out. When the Copts attempted to repair it two days later the antiquities inspector forbade them and insisted they obtain an official permit first.
Security forces did not show up till the assault was over. When they appeared on the scene they imposed a curfew and sealed off the entrances to the town. The police detained 25 Muslims and conducted an investigation.
On Monday morning the private car of Atef Ayoub was also completely torched while parked in front of his home. When he headed to the police station to report the incident he was detained, the police officer telling him he was inciting sectarian tension. He was kept in custody until Monday afternoon.
A list of the full damages is posted on Watani website watani.com.eg

Lord have mercy
The priest of the Holy Virgin’s church Father Hezkial told Watani that the Copts of Esna were victims of recent harassment and verbal abuse by the town’s Muslims. “As we celebrated ‘Midnight Praise’, he said, our attention was drawn by the shouting and jihadi slogans outside; stones were hurled at the church, glass broke and some of the stones fell in as we prayed. Thankfully no one was injured. We stayed inside, the whole congregation praying and crying ‘Kyrie Eleison’, Lord have mercy.”
Father Matta’os of Mother Dulagi church in Esna said the police only came after all the damage was done. “It’s a blessing, he said, that the Copts had closed their shops early to attend the Kiyahk Midnight Praise. It not only limited the losses, but also left no opportunity for clashes between the Muslims and Copts. But the culprits must be brought to justice”
Watani contacted MP Faisal Badr who refused to comment and, angry and irritated, asked to postpone commenting on this matter to some later time.

Reporting a thief
That Saturday morning an incident had occurred which may have sparked the assault. Ra’fat Samir, head of the Luxor branch of the Egyptian Union for Human rights told Watani that Joseph Girgis Hilmy, who goes by the name of Maged and owns a shop in which he sells cell phones, received a fully veiled client who looked at a large number of cell phones but bought none of them and left. Right after she left Maged discovered a cell phone missing. He rushed out behind her in the street and asked her to return the cell phone; an argument followed and he asked her to disclose her identity and remove her niqab or face veil. The woman shouted and accused Maged of having attempted to sexually assault her. The young man and his father were arrested; Maged was referred to the prosecution, charged with assaulting a female. The matter is an individual incident but, Mr Samir believes, it probably was behind the assault on the church that evening.
The preceding Wednesday had seen another incident when two young Coptic men, Bishoi Ishaq and Michael Milad, were thought to have taken a Muslim young woman into a pharmacy and attempted to rape her. A mob gathered, dragged Ishaq and Milad out, beat them up and severely abused them. The police detained them and, even though the girl denied they had harassed her in any way, they are still in custody. The prosecution has extended their detention 15 days for “security reasons”.

No reconciliation
By Tuesday evening, the eve of the Great Bairam or Muslim sacrificial feast, all the detainees were released. They went home to celebrate the feast while the three Coptic young men—Ishaq, Milad and Maged—remained in custody. It may be expedient to remember that in other cases of sectarian violence where young Coptic men were allegedly involved with Muslim women, as in Armant last February and in Alexandria last September, all the Muslim detainees were released while the Copts remained in custody. Ramy Ishaq of Armant was only released some three weeks ago, and Sami Samir of Alexandria is still detained even though he was found innocent of all the charges against him.
And as though the humiliation and damage incurred by Copts were not enough, there were attempts by the local political leaders to force the Copts into reconciliation with their assailants—meaning that the Copts should officially give up the complaints they made to the prosecution. But the Copts and the Church adamantly refused, insisting on demanding justice and punishing the culprits first. Anba Pimen, bishop of Naqada and Qous, said that the Copts frequently accepted to reconcile with their Muslim attackers following sectarian violence but, obviously, the love and peace they offered was never appreciated and they were never compensated for losses nor were their attackers ever brought to justice. He said Pope Shenouda III was closely following up on the matter, and he expressed his wrath at the idea of a cosmetic reconciliation and insisted that the Copts should be compensated for their huge losses before any reconciliation is considered.

Watani

 

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