For years, Khaled Shahin, a restoration specialist with Egypt’s Antiquities Department, has jogged past the iconic white statue on the coastal road in Stanley Bay, Alexandria. The limestone statue, created by well known Egyptian sculptor, Fathi Mahmoud, in 1962 shows the Greek god, Zeus, as a bull embracing Europe, with Europe represented as a woman under sails. It’s often referred to locally as the mermaid statue. But one morning in late May when Shahin was jogging as usual, he was shocked to see that the statue had been splattered with blue paint.

For years, Khaled Shahin, a restoration specialist with Egypt’s Antiquities Department, has jogged past the iconic white statue on the coastal road in Stanley Bay, Alexandria. The limestone statue, created by well known Egyptian sculptor, Fathi Mahmoud, in 1962 shows the Greek god, Zeus, as a bull embracing Europe, with Europe represented as a woman under sails. It’s often referred to locally as the mermaid statue. But one morning in late May when Shahin was jogging as usual, he was shocked to see that the statue had been splattered with blue paint.

Shahin informed his colleagues at the Department and soon efforts were underway, both to restore the statue and to discover who had committed the crime. “It’s definitely the Salafists who are behind this,” Shahin said.

It’s an obvious choice of culprit. Egypt’s Salafists, who are among those in the country taking a more strict and puritanical approach to the Islamic religion, are opposed to statues like this because they see them as encouraging idol worshipping. There have been several incidents when Salafist groups have “veiled” statues they consider offensive – covered them with sheets – or otherwise hidden them.   

Defacing the statue in Stanley Bay “is catastrophic,” says Motaz Ahmad, a political activist and a member of the Heritage Preservation Committee in Alexandria. “This kind of thing takes us back to the Dark Ages. And the Salafists did this for sure,” Ahmad says. “They always say that statues are idols that reflect the times before the people were Islamic.”

However local Salafists denied any involvement. “We are absolutely innocent of this,” Tariq Hassan, the secretary of the local Al Nour Party, which represents many local Salafists, said. “It’s shameful that we should be accused of this. And I am sure nobody from our community is involved in this unjustified action.”

Hassan agreed that local Salafists had been involved in similar events previously. But, he said, “although we’re opposed to inappropriate statues that contradict Islamic teachings, we didn’t do this. That statue has been around for a long time and we Salafists have always seen it. But it was never targeted,” he argued, adding that he thought it was better to educate people rather than deface or destroy dumb statues.

Following the incident, workers from the Department of Antiquities were able to partially get the paint off the statue.

“Experts in culture and archeology periodically check up on the statues,” Hamid Abdulal, a specialist at the Ministry of Culture in Alexandria said. Abdulal also pointed out that this was not the first time the statue had been attacked, saying it had been damaged about three months ago. It was fixed by people from the Antiquities Department then too. 

In order to prevent further similar incidents, Shahin suggested that statues like the one in Stanley Bay be part of regular checks by local police and that surveillance cameras be installed.

Local police check on statues and other monuments, Nasser Abed, head of security forces in Alexandria, said, but they cannot really be put under 24-hour surveillance.

“Maintaining antiques is not the responsibility of official bodies alone,” Shahin concluded. “It is also the sacred duty of every citizen.”