FAYOUM: A relative calm fell over Al-Nazla in the early hours of Saturday when residents of the Fayoum village learned that Dalia Mohamed and her son had reappeared.
Clashes erupted Friday afternoon in Al-Nazla as hundreds of Muslims threw stones at Christian houses and shops in the Fayoum village, fueling talks of increasing sectarian tension in Egypt.
Reports said clashes erupted after Dalia Mohamed, a woman who had converted to Islam, went missing last week.
Demiana Makram, as she was previously known, reportedly converted to Islam, changed her name to Dalia Mohamed and married a Muslim man two years ago, against her family’s wishes. Clashes began when word spread that she was abducted by her Coptic family; while others claimed she willingly went back to her family after escaping with her 10-month-old son.
On June 19, Dalia went to Cairo with her husband and child to visit a sick relative. She later disappeared and rumors spread that she was kidnapped by her family, which spurred the Muslims of Al-Nazla to gather and attack Coptic property in the village.
“The attack began at 4 pm [on Friday] when groups of Muslims hurled stones at Coptic property, which resulted in some injuries to Copts. Around 50 Coptic homes and businesses – including pharmacies, grocery stores and electrical appliance shops – were sacked, said Samir Hanna, Dalia’s uncle.
Clashes quickly turned into celebrations in the early hours of Saturday when it was announced that the women and her son had reappeared and were back home with her husband.
Mohamed Abdel Azeem, a Muslim resident of Al-Nazla, said the reason they were angry is because “Muslims didn’t force Dalia to convert to Islam, so she didn’t have the right to run away with her Muslim son.
Her story began in 2006, when she fell in love with Mohamed Zaki, a Muslim, and decided to run away and marry him, in defiance of her Coptic family.
At the time, police arrested seven Coptic youths who tried to return her to her family. They were released two weeks later after hundreds of Copts demonstrated in the small village.
“After Demiana [Dalia] left, her family left the village and we surrendered to the reality. Then [last week] I was called into the police station and asked if I knew where she disappeared to. They asked me to return her to her husband, Gameel Hanna told Daily News Egypt.
I told them [the police] that we don t know anything about her, but that we’d heard she may have gone back to her family, who had moved to Cairo. We haven’t been in touch with them since they left, he added.
Sayyed Ghattas, a Coptic resident of the village, said he was surprised such an attack was carried out by “people with whom we are on good neighborly terms with.
“All of a sudden, they turned on us, he added, “This matter had nothing to do with us.
In Egypt, religious conversion is controversial. There is a stigma against people who convert and it is considered shameful for the family.
A large security presence can still be seen around the village, but Copts who spoke to Daily News Egypt said they do not trust police to be fair when it comes to sectarian incidents.
Basheer, a young Coptic man whose telephone center was damaged in Friday’s attack, said, “They [police] pretended that they were trying to prevent Muslims from attacking us when in fact they weren t serious in tacking action.
Local leaders and authorities are trying to hold reconciliation sessions, but some Coptic youth told Daily News Egypt that they will refuse to participate unless some of the people who carried out the attack are prosecuted.
This latest incident comes in the wake of attacks on the Abo Fana Monastery in the village of Mallawi in Minya, which resulted in the death of one Muslim and the injury of seven Coptic Christians, five of whom were monks.
Monks and novices continued a sit-in in protest of the decision by the border arbitration committee which ruled that a wall around the monastery was to be removed.
