Mina Daniel, a Coptic Christian shot dead by the Egyptian army in Cairo, symbolises the growing strains within a country desperate to complete its transition to democracy.
By Colin Freeman
10/16/2011 Egypt (The Telegraph) – His beard and long hair styled in imitation of his hero, Mina Daniel was that rare thing among Che Guevara-lookalikes – a would-be revolutionary who actually found a revolution to fight.
As a regular face in the anti-government protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February, the 20-year-old student from Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority was the stuff of Facebook folklore: firstly for his cheerful songs promoting Muslim-Christian unity, secondly for the bullets he took during stand-offs with the security forces; two plastic ones to the head and stomach, and a live one that scarred his leg.
Now, though, the youngster whose friends nicknamed him “Guevara” is emblazoned on T-shirts himself, a belated “martyr” to the cause fellow protesters hoped had been won beyond doubt eight months ago.
In an episode last Sunday reminiscent of the bloodiest days of the anti-Mubarak struggle, he was among a small crowd of Coptic demonstrators who were brutally attacked in Cairo as they demonstrated against the destruction of a church by Islamic radicals in southern Egypt.
What started as a peaceful protest march ended up with 25 dead, some run over by armoured vehicles driven by soldiers supposedly policing the event, others clashing with gangs of Muslim extremist thugs. Mr Daniel’s luck against the bullets finally ran out, a shot from an unknown sniper wounding him fatally in the chest.
“Mina was a very kind, righteous person, and he dreamed of Egypt becoming like Europe, where the young people don’t have to travel abroad to live their dreams,” said his sister Mary, 41, who wore a black T-shirt with her brother’s face on it as she spoke to The Sunday Telegraph at the family’s home in a poor Cairo suburb on Friday.
“The demonstration was peaceful, but then we were suddenly attacked. First there were stones thrown, then armoured cars trying to run people over. As we ran away, thugs came at us with knives, shouting “You Copts, you infidels, this is an Islamic country.”
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“The military government is no longer the people’s friend,” said Ms Daniel, sitting in Mina’s cramped, spartan bedroom, where a wall picture of Jesus and Mary looked down on a tattered Nelson Mandela biography. “Now they are creating civil war between Copts and Muslims, as an excuse to stay in power.”
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