CAIRO: Press reports of sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria on Tuesday have made headline news in the local Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Dostour newspapers, each telling a different story.
According to Al-Masry Al-Youm the clashes broke out when the Imam of Bilal Mosque’s son got into a fight with a Copt. When the Imam went to sort out the problem with the Coptic boy’s father, the latter allegedly brushed him off.
After the evening prayers, Christians allegedly gathered in front of the mosque carrying their priest and calling, We will sacrifice our blood and soul for our Virgin [referring to the name of their church, the Virgin Mary Church of El Dekheila, located near the mosque].
Another version of the story, which also ran in Al-Masry Al-Youm, was that a young Muslim got into a fight with a Christian in front of the church, which provoked the Muslim’s friends, who began throwing stones at the church.
However, priest Sidraos Youssef Khalah, from Virgin Mary Church of El Dekheila, reportedly told the newspaper that what happened was just an ordinary fight that was exaggerated because of the current tension between Muslims and Christians.
On the other hand, Al-Dostour daily claimed that 70 Muslims attacked the church, breaking its windows and doors. They were motivated by the Imam’s speech.
But a source in Alexandria, who was not an eyewitness, told The Daily Star Egypt that rumor has it in the city that a group of Muslims were infuriated when a Christian asked them to lower the volume of their speakers as they conducted a study session. This led to the subsequent clashes and the alleged killing of one Copt.
The Daily Star Egypt contacted the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbaseya to verify the story, but was told that the church had no information about the case.
The incident comes one month after the Al Ayyat sectarian clashes that took place on Friday May 11 in Bamha village, leaving 11 Christians injured and 35 Muslims arrested. Bamha is home to 400 Christians out of a population of 6,000.
Al Ayyat clash was considered the worst in Egypt since the bloody events in the Upper Egyptian village of El Kosheh seven years ago when 20 Copts were murdered in a riot that erupted following an argument between a Muslim woman and a Coptic shopkeeper .
Gamal Eid, executive director for the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told The Daily Star Egypt that there is no fast solution to the problems between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.
However, the only practical solution is in the hands of the Egyptian government, according to Eid, that should acknowledge the existence of that tension and work on diminishing all discrimination against Copts in Egypt .
But pretending that all’s well – the attitude adopted by the government – will only make the matter worse, Eid added.
The other part of the solution depends on changing societal perceptions where Christians are seen as different and, in some way inferior to Muslims, says Eid.
Both civil society and the national media has a big role to play to change these perceptions, Eid added.
