CAIRO: Dozens of protesters marched from Al-Azhar Mosque to Abbaseya Cathedral following Friday prayers, calling for national unity and condemning the army forces’ violent crackdown on peaceful protesters earlier in the week.
Protesters chanted "Muslim and Christian, are one hand," and "Muslim or Christian, we are all Egyptians."
At the onset, the march was attacked in front of Al-Azhar Mosque by onlookers who threw rocks at protesters when they began chanting against the military council. The rocking throwing lasted for around five minutes and the march continued onwards to the cathedral.
Ahmed Ramadan, 25, told Daily News Egypt that the sheikh who was giving the Friday sermon in Al-Azhar Mosque incited people against protesters, saying they wanted to vandalize the country.
"We explained to them that we were only expressing our unity with the Copts," Ramadan said.
Deadly clashes broke out between army forces and protesters on Sunday night when a march to Maspero — demanding Coptic rights and condemning an earlier attack against a church in Aswan — was itself met with violence.
Eyewitnesses, activists and rights groups say army forces began a sudden and violent crackdown as soon as the march arrived to Maspero, where protesters were crushed to death by APCs and shot with live ammunition.
Twenty-five people died and more than 300 were injured during the worse violence since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
However, army council generals denied that army forces used live ammunition or that personnel intentionally used armored vehicles to run over civilians.
On Friday, protesters condemned the military council for using excessive violence. "We don’t want the military council…they’re the ones who brutally beat us in front of Maspero for no reason," Tamer El-Sayed, 24, told DNE.
The crowd accused the military of inciting sectarian strife between the Egyptian people.
"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is the same as ousted president Hosni Mubarak," Ramadan said.
Activist Lilian Wagdy said, "We need to stress the fact that what happened was an attack by the army against civilians, not a result of sectarian strife."
Protesters shouted, "This wasn’t sectarian strife…it was a military massacre." They also chanted for Mina Daniel, 25, who was killed during the clashes saying, "His blood will not go to waste."
Ahmed Saeid, a friend of Daniel, described him as "a revolutionary and a dear brother."
"We are all Mina Daniel," he said.
A few police officers accompanied the march without intervening.
Upon reaching the cathedral, another group of protesters joined and numbers increased to around a few hundred protesters.
"We were waiting for our Muslim brothers to come from their march here, so we can prove that what’s happening in Egypt isn’t sectarian strife," the coordinator of the Free Copts movement, Michael Armaneous, said.
Muslim protesters prayed for the martyrs in front of the cathedral, as a symbol for national unity.
Osama Ezz El-Arab, member of the Revolutionary Front, told the crowd, "Egyptian blood is one and it is sacred."
Hani Ramsis, leading member of the Coptic Union of Maspero Youth, thanked Muslims who participated. "I call on you to stand as one hand to protect this country from anyone trying to separate us," he said.
"Our problem was never with Islam…it’s with terrorism," he added. "Long live Egypt," people chanted.
Protesters slammed state media, accusing it of inciting sectarianism on the day of the clashes.
"The people shouldn’t believe every lie that comes from the media…we were unarmed," a women who preferred to remain anonymous said.
"The military ran over us again and again for no reason…they shouldn’t even do that with their enemies," she added.
During the clashes, state TV called on Egyptians to defend the military from an attack by Coptic protesters.
Some of the protesters then marched to Tahrir Square to reiterate their demands.
Protesters gathered in front of Al-Azhar Mosque after Friday prayers, chanting for national unity. (Daily News Egypt Photo/Hassan Ibrahim)
