CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak described the Nagaa Hammadi s shootings as a criminal act and urged Egypt’s intelligentsia to confront “sedition, ignorance and blind fanaticism in a speech to mark Science Day.
This was the first time Mubarak comments on the brutal drive-by shooting of six Copts and one Muslim outside a church in Nagaa Hammadi, Qena.
The criminal act of Nagaa Hammadi has made the hearts of Egyptians bleed, whether Copts or Muslims, he said.
He also called on the rational preachers and thinkers . to deter hateful sectarian motives that threaten the unity of our society, the cohesion of its people and tarnish the image of Egypt.
The president went on to explain that there is no room in Egypt for extremist thought that mixes politics with religion. An advanced society for a modern civil state gives no room for the deviation of thought that mixes religion with politics or politics with religion, he said. “[A society where] there is no room for ignorance, fanaticism or sectarian incitement.
He also stressed the need to establish the values of citizenship in letter and spirit and not to discriminate between Muslims and Christians.
A gathering of about 2,000 Copts inside the complex of the Abbasiya Cathedral called on the president to address the incident Wednesday night: Mubarak why are you silent? Are you with them? the protestors chanted in Arabic as they stood in the sanctuary of Egypt s largest church.
Several civil society groups have attacked the government for failing to deal appropriately with the shootings.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said in a report that the government failed on three fronts: recognizing the warning signs that led to the shootings; preventing the attack, and committing security violations while arresting the suspects.
A day after the heinous crime, police arrested three suspects: Qershi Aboul Hagag, Mohamed Ahmad Hassan El-Kamuni and Hindawi Mohamed Sayed as they tried to hide in a sugar cane farm.
The suspects have been charged with murder in the first degree, the use of force and threatening public safety.
