When Adel Arian, a Copt, or native Egyptian Christian, from Dahshur—a village located about 40 kilometres south of Cairo— returned to his warehouse after living in temporary hiding, he found that it had been ransacked by his fellow villagers.
When Adel Arian, a Copt, or native Egyptian Christian, from Dahshur—a village located about 40 kilometres south of Cairo— returned to his warehouse after living in temporary hiding, he found that it had been ransacked by his fellow villagers.
Arian was one of hundreds of Copts who fled the violence in Dahshur earlier this month, following the funeral of a young Muslim man who got caught in the crossfire of Molotav Cocktails that had been exchanged between Dahshur’s Copts and Muslims.
The sectarian violence erupted when a quarrel between a Christian launderer and a Muslim customer escalated, resulting in the destruction of Copt property and leading many Copt families to flee their homes.
“After the funeral,” Arian said, “the father of the deceased stood amidst citizens and said ‘My son’s blood is on your hands, my fellow citizens!’ The villagers flared up and started destroying and sabotaging the Christians’ property. The police didn’t interfere for hours, even to fire shots into the air to intimidate the assaulters.”
Arian’s accusations – though contrary to the accounts of the majority of eyewitnesses – reflect a case of disappointment regarding the state institutions, as experienced by Arian, and other Christians in Dahshur.
Majority Rules
The police asked Arian’s family and around twenty other Copt families to leave for fear of the attacks of the Muslim villagers. “Return?” said Arian, “I’m too embarrassed to return after they kicked us out.”
The situation in the village has stabilized after a week of tight security blockades and continuous attempts by authorities to quell tensions.
When Arian and his brothers walked through the warehouse, they found the furniture had been completely destroyed, documents had been torn and burned, and devices had been smashed to rubble.
The Governor of Giza, to which Dahshur belongs, promised Copt families US $1, 600 compensation for damaged property yet Arian’s losses in amounted to at least $823,180, he said sadly.
“I won’t go back to Dahshur,” Arian said. “I intend to live outside the village to keep my house and family safe. I’ll limit my relationship to the village for business only.”
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