Chapter 5: Collective Attacks on Copts in Naga Hammadi, Bahgoura and Izbat Tarkas

From Thursday afternoon, 7 January, while the funeral procession was underway for those killed on Christmas Eve, until dawn on Saturday, 9 January, a wave of sectarian attacks erupted, striking the homes and property of Copts in Naga Hammadi, Bahgoura and Izbat Tarkas. Groups carrying knives, clubs and canisters of gasoline broke down the doors of shops and looted and torched them; in the areas of al-Sahel and al-Suq in Naga Hammadi, they attempted to break down the doors of homes and attack the inhabitants.

All the statements collected by the EIPR fact-finding mission agreed on the failure of the security apparatus to protect Copts and stop the vandalizing of their property. There was little security in the areas and streets where feelings were running high and likely to explode at any moment. The EIPR fact-finding mission inspected the affected areas and noted signs of destruction and vandalism in shops and homes, as well as a general state of terror among the local Coptic residents, who feared more attacks.

Gamil, the owner of a grocery in Naga Hammadi, told EIPR researchers how his shop was destroyed during the funeral procession and the prayer service in the Mar Yuhanna Church. He received calls from his neighbors at 3 pm on Thursday, 7 January, telling him that groups of Muslims were breaking into homes and looting and vandalizing shops on several streets in Naga Hammadi, among them al-Nasara St. behind the Fever Hospital and al-Tahrir St., where his shop is located. Gamil added that the crowd was being led by his Muslim neighbors from the same street. They broke the lock on his shop and the main window and looted the contents of the store.

At the same time, a group of Muslims from Izbat Tarkas, located in the village of Bahgoura, set fire to a house and a photo studio and broke the window of a pharmacy. A Christian citizen from Izbat Tarkas told EIPR researchers, “On Thursday at about 2 pm, a group of Muslims numbering more than 100 took to the streets of Izbat Tarkas and started breaking down the doors of Christian homes. They set fire to the home of Zakaria Zaki and a studio owned by Michael Fayez, and they broke the front window at Sami’s Pharmacy. They threw Molotov cocktails at some homes and torched a motorcycle, then they wrecked Wael Fayez’s car. They kept saying, ‘There is no god but God’ and defaming Christians. That continued until about 4:30 pm, when the police arrived—two and a half hours after the attacks began—and took control of the situation. Local residents then stayed in their homes.”³³

The situation was calmed slightly on Thursday evening and Friday morning, 8 January, when the Public Prosecutor visited Naga Hammadi and stated that the perpetrators would be dealt with severely and subjected to punishment. The situation changed as soon as officials left the city. At about 6 pm, groups of Muslims from the al-Suq area of Naga Hammadi took to the streets carrying swords, iron bars and knives, and they began looting and destroying homes and property without intervention by the security apparatus, according to testimonies collected by the fact-finding mission.

One Muslim eyewitness from the al-Suq area said that the attacks started on Thursday but were more severe on Friday. He added, “About 300 people were walking in the streets of al-Suq and al-Sahel areas, breaking glass and looting shops. They were also breaking down the doors of homes. All this happened meanwhile security trucks were placed only around the police station and at the entrances to the town. There was no security presence in the riot areas in al-Suq and al-Sahel.”³⁴

Girgis Tawdrus, 62, the owner of a grocery store in the al-Suq area of Naga Hammadi, told the EIPR mission in a statement, “I live about two streets over from my shop in the al-Suq area. At about 7 pm on Thursday evening, I learned from neighbors that some thugs had attacked the shop and tried to break down the door, but failed. When I asked the neighbors, I learned that it was a group of Muslim youths who were shouting, ‘God is great,’ and trying to break the shop door with homemade swords. The next day at about 6 pm, there was a curfew imposed on the city, but still 300 to 400 Muslims armed with knives, axes, homemade swords and clubs attacked my shop and broke down the door. Some of them entered the shop and stole goods worth LE10,000, including LE800 in cash, as well as telephone cards worth LE1,000 that I had bought to sell during the holiday.

“My son was nearby and saw the store being looted, but we couldn’t leave the house, neither one of us. The attackers had all manner of knives. Some were wearing masks and others had painted their faces black so we couldn’t identify them. They moved in an organized fashion as if they had planned it in advance. After looting the shop, they took out wads of material soaked in gasoline and threw them in the shop. It went up in flames and I lost the trade I’ve working in for 15 years. Attempts by Muslim neighbors to intervene or put out the fire did no good, and the fire blazed for about an hour before firefighters and the chief of police arrived, and we filed a police report. On Saturday, a committee from the city council came to appraise the damage, and they promised to compensate me.”³⁵

In a similar statement, Talaat Fakhouri, the owner of a cloth shop in the al-Suq area, said, “I opened a cloth shop in the al-Suq area about six years ago. On Friday, the neighbors called to tell me that a large group of Muslim youths carrying homemade swords and Molotov cocktails were attacking my shop, but I couldn’t go out because of the curfew imposed by the security forces. I followed the situation with the neighbors by cell phone and learned that they burned the whole shop down after they stole the material. One of my neighbors tried to intervene to stop the fire and the armed youths attacked him. The locals recognized some of the assailants although their faces were disguised. They were from the hamlets around Naga Hammadi, and everyone knew that they were headed to Bahgoura to burn the homes of Christians, but security forces let them in to the al-Suq area. Even though there were two armored vehicles and Central Security trucks at the entrance to the area, the soldiers didn’t move. They didn’t even fire one shot in the air to disperse the dozens of armed men who torched my shop and looted it for two full hours.”³⁶

Yasser Ahmed, known as Yasser al-Sunni, is a resident of the area who tried to stop the attacks on the property of his Christian neighbor. He told EIPR researchers, “On Friday, I found dozens of armed men trying to break into the paint and carpentry shop of Uncle Shenouda Karas. They used an axe to break down the door and then stole everything in the shop except some heavy cans they couldn’t take with them. Then they threw Molotov cocktails in the shop to torch it. I ran to Shenouda’s shop and tried, along with other local residents, to put out the fire in what was left of the shop. I knew that the canisters that were left had flammable paint thinner in them, not to mention the gas canister that might explode at any moment. The armed men were screaming, ‘The Christians torched the mosque,’ and then kept repeating, ‘God is great’ while they looted the shop. Then they burned it down and left looking for another place. Strangely, the whole thing lasted nearly 90 minutes and we saw no trace of any security personnel. The fire truck arrived three hours later. We learned later that the police had used the fire truck to disperse Christian demonstrators in front of the diocese headquarters instead of putting out the fires that broke out all over the al-Suq area and nearly took the lives of all its inhabitants, both Muslims and Christians.”³⁷

Witnesses met by the EIPR fact-finding mission said that the security forces were not heavily deployed in Naga Hammadi until Saturday evening and had left local Christians “at the mercy of thugs” until that time. For three straight nights, most Copts remained in their homes in fear of being assaulted or killed. Several Copts said that sick people were unable to leave their homes to go to the doctor or hospital during this period. Most Christians relied on whatever food happened to be in the house.

In the Christian-majority village of Bahgoura, the violence and destruction was even more severe. The village was cloaked in black, and the signs of grief and depression were clear on the faces of the few individuals seen in the street, particularly in those areas where Christians are the majority. There was a heavy security presence, especially in areas that had been the site of fires. Security police dispatches were deployed at close intervals, and it was difficult to walk even 50 meters without running across two police cars, in addition to other security cars sweeping the streets to monitor the situation and prevent “strangers” from entering the village. EIPR researchers began their tour from Abu Asal St., where they found the rubble of several destroyed houses that were blackened by the fires. The fear of most local residents was so great that they refused to talk; a few were busy clearing the remnants of the attacks. After surveying the Abu Asal area, EIPR researchers entered the al-Dar area and from there, Izbat Tarkas, where they found burned shops and closed homes, and the residents scared to open them to strangers. On the way back, they noted that about three officers stood guard at each of the four churches in the village.
Of the few local Copts who agreed to give a statement, one resident of a street near the Abu Asal area of Bahgoura who witnessed the events said, “There were about 3,000 Muslims moving in one group with iron chains, bricks, rocks, fire bombs and gas canisters. In the beginning, they tried to enter the al-Baraka area of Bahgoura between the Church of the Virgin and the Mar Girgis Church, but they were unable to enter this strongly Christian area, so they went back to Izbat Tarkas where they broke into Adel’s furniture shop, robbed and torched it. They looted and burned Latif’s supermarket, looted a satellite shop and burned down Morris’s shop at the beginning of al-Tahouna St. Oddly, the electricity went out right at the same time in the neighborhood and security forces disappeared completely on Friday, even though the day before there had been some tense hours and the police had come to maintain order. The assailants then went to Tiraat al-Wazira St. and the Abu Asal area, where they broke into Atallah’s house and burned it down. Then they broke into Rushdi’s house and set fire to it and a motorcycle. They also torched Sadros’s grocery, Adel Alfi’s house and the home of Ayed Girgis Habib, below which was a shop, a large supermarket and three warehouses. A carpentry shop was burned down, along with the co-op, Edward Nimr’s store and a supermarket owned by Edward Faragallah. They burned down Hamdi Wissa’s house and the carpentry shop he owns, and also the homes of Malak Sameh and Wagih Nasri, then they entered al-Magarin St., where they wrecked Michel Duss’s car. Some Christians saw the vandals and photographed them, but people were too afraid to respond. There were some Muslims, too, who defended Christians and weren’t happy with the situation, like Farghali’s family.”³⁸

Another witness from Bahgoura said that there was no security in the village at all during the events, which lasted from 7 until 11 pm on 8 January: “Security forces were at the entrance to the village. They didn’t engage with anyone or try to stop the attacks. The firefighters came at about 10:30 pm, after the fire had already taken everything. Only two trucks came to put out fires in dozens of houses and shops.”³⁹

Another eyewitness, a resident of Bahgoura, told the EIPR fact-finding mission, “Christians found hundreds of Muslims carrying clubs, cleavers and knives, along with cans of gasoline, attacking their homes. We all closed our doors fearing we’d be killed, particularly after it became clear that what happened in Naga Hammadi might be repeated. Shops were broken into and homes burned all along Abu Asal St. The Muslims targeted at least four houses with their Christian inhabitants inside, throwing firebombs at them and trying to burn them down.”⁴⁰

Journalist Nader Shukri gave the following testimony about the attacks in Bahgoura: “On Friday evening I was in Naga Hammadi when I heard that violence had started in Bahgoura. People from the village called me and told me that houses were on fire and that the Virgin had appeared there. I heard ululation and screams on the telephone. I reached Bahgoura at 9 pm on Friday, 8 January, with a photographer colleague. At the entrance to the village, we immediately felt we couldn’t breathe and our eyes began to water from the tear gas that filled the village. State Security officers in civilian clothes were standing outside the village holding automatic weapons. They told us, ‘The situation is inflamed and you can’t enter the village. All we’re doing is trying to stop people from outside enter the village so that things don’t get worse.’ Security forces began lining up outside the village and repeating enthusiastic cries to make people feel there was security. When I managed to enter the village, I found fires burning in two houses and four shops. Some people were screaming and others were ululating because the Virgin had appeared in the village skies. A third group was trying to put out the fires while the rest of the village Copts stayed in their homes in fear. The scene was strange and terrifying and filled with contradictions.”⁴¹

At the same time as the attacks in Bahgoura, similar acts of looting and arson were taking place in Izbat Tarkas for the second night in a row. The EIPR also received information that on Friday evening, 8 January, Copts in the village of al-Rahmaniya—a village adjacent to Bahgoura where three of the victims of the Christmas Eve attacks lived—clashed with security forces, who used water cannons and rubber bullets, injuring several Copts. The EIPR fact-finding mission was not able to enter al-Rahmaniya because of the security cordon and closure of the village.

According to statements collected by the EIPR mission, several rumors making the rounds on Friday contributed significantly to sparking the violence. On Friday, there was a funeral procession for the Muslim policeman who was killed in the 6 January attacks, but a rumor quickly spread that the funeral was for a Muslim who was killed by Copts as retribution. Another popular rumor was that Copts had burned down a mosque; this rumor began on Coptic Christmas Day and spread quickly among local residents. Another unfounded rumor claimed that two Muslims were shot and killed by armed Christians. The EIPR believes that any comprehensive investigation into the events in Naga Hammadi must attempt to ascertain the source of these rumors and those responsible for them.

The EIPR fact-finding mission learned that an elderly Christian woman, reportedly named Alice Qastangi, died in Bahgoura on Friday evening, 8 January, during the violence. Stories differ as to the cause of death, with some saying that she choked to death from the tear gas and others saying that the death was caused by the state of panic at the collective violence against village Copts. The EIPR asks the Public Prosecutor to issue a clarification about the woman’s death. Her funeral procession took place on Saturday afternoon, 9 January, amid a heavy security presence, according to some who attended the funeral.

On Saturday morning, 9 January, security reinforcements arrived from the governorates adjacent to Qena and calm was restored to the area. The Public Prosecutor has thus far issued no report about the indictment of any suspects on charges of involvement in the criminal assaults that took place from 7 to 9 January.

Umm Ahmed: A story that must be told

Umm Ahmed is a women from Upper Egypt who decided to stand up against the thugs, even if she had to do it alone. She is short woman, over 75 years old. A widow, she has long protected her children and grandchildren with a practiced eye that can be described as both maternal and paternal. Umm Ahmed, or the Hagga as everyone calls her in the al-Suq area of Naga Hammadi, had an appointment with “the young thugs” as she called them on Friday night, 8 January. “There were 300 kids, all of them either with their faces covered or all painted black,” she said, “kids the same age as my kids carrying knives and cleavers and swords came out to break into George’s shop. The shop was closed. I yelled at them, ‘Shame on you, that’s a Muslim’s shop,’ so they would leave, and they threw bricks at me until they broke the whole window.”

Umm Ahmed did not fall silent when the “kids” attacked her. She was determined to stop what was happening below her house in any way possible. She went out to them on her balcony and screamed, “You there, boy, and you, get back! I tell you that’s a Muslim shop, you unbelievers.” But the kids responded with more rocks and bricks. “I didn’t shut up. I went to the broken window and yelled at them, ‘Shame, boy! I’m calling the police.’ And I screamed at them to go away. Then they grabbed wads of cloth wet with gasoline, lit them and threw them at us in the house.”

The elderly woman screamed as she saw balls of fire take hold of furniture that was part of her daughter’s dowry. She tried to put out what she could and yelled for her daughter to put out the rest before the fire reached the gas canisters in the apartment.
Umm Ahmed noticed the sound of her son, Ahmed, running up the stairs, coming from the funeral of Ayman the policeman. She yelled at him, “They’ve torched the store of Uncle George, Ahmed, they burned and looted it, son.” Ahmed went outside to see the shop and suddenly found his elderly mother coming towards him with a pot of water. “I thought I’d put out the fire,” she said. “One day God will show them, those who did that and burned down the shop of that good man. George has been with us 15 years and we’ve never seen anything bad from him. Why would they do that to him?”

In just a few minutes, everyone was helping Umm Ahmed put out the fire in what remained of George’s grocery, some with water, others with dirt, but in the end, the fire was stronger than Umm Ahmed. Nothing was left of George’s shop but a small cabinet in which Umm Ahmed put the remnants from the fire. She then went inside her house to think of how times had changed and about the “kids” who could not be stopped by a look that had once “stopped men with mustaches in their tracks.”