Egyptian Security Blocks Coptic Vigil

Egyptian security forces blocked a demonstration which a group of Copts were to stage in front of the People’s Assembly in Cairo on Friday.
 
For his part, Mamdouh Nakhla, manager of Al-Kalima Human Rights Center and an organizer of the demonstration, told Ikhwanweb:” We wanted, along with a group of Egyptian Copts, to stage a demonstration on Friday in front of the Egyptian parliament. It was to be a peaceful demonstration. We dint have any ill-intention and we didn’t plan to do any riot or block traffic. We wanted, through this peaceful vigil, to:
 
First: protest against foreign intervention. This is because we do not accept any foreign intervention in Coptic or Egyptian affairs. We raise the slogan ( Egypt is above all) and we reject any direct or indirect intervention.
Second: to demand our rights through this vigil. This is because law states that citizenship is the basis of rule. We object to the delay in discussing the bill of building houses of worship .”
 
Nakhla:” We wanted to express these demands in a vigil in front of the Egyptian parliament and other authorities. We notified the central security of the vigil and even the placards and signs which we will raise to show our peaceful intentions. The slogans included ( Egypt above all, Egypt is a homeland for all of us we, Egypt for all, …). However, the security ordered us not to stage this vigil. We were forced to obey and held a press conference to discuss what we want instead of this peaceful vigil.”
 
 
Mamdouh Nakhla attributes this strange attitude of banning the vigil to” ill-intentioned security agents who may have falsely made authorities think that the Copts will hold a hostile demonstration that may disrupt traffic or lead to riots.”
 
“I don’t know who have told them such groundless claims, but they must be security agents” added Nakhla.