Egypt’s Naga Hamady shooting leaves sectarian scars

By Yolande Knell

10/18/2010 Egypt (BBC News) – The main street in Naga Hamady is bustling with shoppers much as it was on Coptic Christmas Eve after worshippers left a nearby church.

However, that night a drive-by shooting took place that shook the community.

Seven people died, six Christians and one Muslim security guard. It was Egypt’s worst sectarian attack in a decade.

Even today, tensions remain high in the town, 70km (40 miles) from Luxor in southern Egypt, but one survivor of the attack agrees to meet in a local chapel.

“On the day of the incident, a big group of us were standing near the square in the town-centre,” recalls Antonious Reza, as he perches nervously on the edge of a pew.

“Five minutes before the firing started, I had a phone call and so I walked away to talk. Then I watched the car stop and I was face-to-face with the gunman as he opened fire.”

The university student saw two of his companions killed and three injured.

“There was total confusion,” he says. “People in the street ran in all directions, including towards the gunfire. He was shooting randomly. He could have killed many more.”

History of clashes

About 10% of Egypt’s 80-million population is Coptic Christian but Naga Hamady is unusual for having a Christian majority.

The shooting was not the first sectarian violence in the area. Officials believe it was revenge for the earlier alleged rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man in November 2009 that led to attacks on Christian property.

After the deaths in Naga Hamady, false rumours spread that Copts had killed a Muslim and set fire to a mosque. Again, mobs went on the rampage.

“The Muslims in my village, they opened my shop and took everything inside: my computer, my mobiles, just because I am Christian,” the owner of a mobile phone store, Shenouda Abadeer, tells me. “The police did not do anything. I lost everything.”

No compensation was given for the robbery.

In nearby Qena, three Muslim men are on trial accused of carrying out the murders in Naga Hamady. The alleged rape case is being heard in the same courtroom.

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