CAIRO: The fact-finding committee of the National Council on Human Rights (NCHR) said Wednesday that army forces used excessive violence by running over protesters with APCs, killing 12 and critically injuring five after "unknown civilians" attacked the Coptic protesters and the army personnel.
"Those assailants could not be identified, but we described them as civilians because this is how they were dressed," said NCHR committee member Mona Zulfukar at a press conference Wednesday.
"We have repeatedly seen those unknown assailants in many clashes, but they were never identified and the general prosecution investigating all previous incidents never identified them," she said.
The committee said that the peaceful march was attacked several times since it started in Shubra where unknown civilians hurled stones at them; a similar attack happened in Boulak in addition to using live shots but no one was injured.
"When the march approached the Corniche near Ramsis Hilton Hotel, military police forces tried to disperse the protest using batons to beat protesters who hurled stones at them," the report said.
The military police then fired blanks to end the clashes, which forced the protesters to retreat away from Maspero, but with the increasing numbers, many got injured as the crowds started running.
Right after the army forces fired the blanks, eyewitnesses said that armed civilians on motorcycles infiltrated the protesters and shot at both the army forces and the protesters.
"Another eyewitness said that one sniper on Sixth of October Bridge was shooting at protesters and military police forces," the report said, adding that martyr Mina Daniel, 19, was the first to die of gunshot wounds in the clashes.
"The soldiers who were riding the APCs and the military commander of Maspero district must be interrogated, no one is above the law," said NCHR committee member Hafez Abo Saeda.
Abo Saeda also condemned the detention of activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah on charges of inciting violence during the Maspero events.
"We should have started our press conference by calling for the immediate release of Alaa who is unfairly being interrogated by the military prosecution. Civilians should not be tried in front of military courts," he said.
Abdel Fattah rejected on Sunday the interrogation by the military prosecution since he believes that the military establishment is party to the crime they’re probing and hence should not be investigating the Maspero incidents in the first place.
The NCHR report also listed conflicting testimonies about the identity of some civilians who used knives to attack the military police. While some said that they were Coptic protesters, others said that they were unknown civilians and thugs who came in from districts near Maspero.
The report said that protesters reacted to the APCs running over them by jumping atop the vehicles to prevent the drivers from killing more people, burning one APC whose driver tried to escape. He was beaten by protesters but rescued by a priest who handed him over to the military police.
"The inciting coverage of the incident by Egyptian state TV should be separately investigated by the general prosecution," Zulfukar said, adding that deadly sectarian violence could have erupted as a direct result of state TV coverage.
The committee received reports of deaths and injuries from five hospitals including the Coptic Hospital, El-Mounira, Nasser Institute, and Shubra General Hospital.
"We received no information from military hospitals about the alleged deaths of army personnel and so we demand the release of this information so it can be investigated," Abo Seada said, adding that investigations will remain incomplete if these records remained secret.
The committee recommended an independent judiciary committee not the military prosecution to investigate the clashes to ensure the highest level of integrity and independence in the investigation.
"There are bold accusations against the army forces of using excessive violence against the protesters, that’s why the military prosecution cannot investigate the matter," committee member George Ishaq said.
"We also demand legislation to resolve the sectarian issue in Egypt," Zulfukar said, adding that the anti-discrimination law was a good step, yet needs to be enhanced.
The committee also demanded treating the martyrs of the Maspero clashes on an equal footing with those killed during the Jan. 25 uprising, providing their families with financial support and the injured with medical support.
