Thousands March in Memory of Christian Massacre in Egypt

Thousands march a year after Egypt Copt killings
ICC Note:
Thousands of Egyptian protesters marched Tuesday in Cairo to mark one year since the Maspero Massacre when 26 Christians were killed in a demonstration that was violently crushed by security forces. “The victims of the massacre are described… as martyrs,” Egypt Independent reported. “Among [Coptic Christians], this language of martyrdom has a particular resonance, rooted in a history of struggle as the practitioners of a minority faith in Egypt. Most of the victims’ families, however, have yet to see justice. “The Egyptian authorities have failed to conduct a full impartial and independent investigation into the circumstances of the violence and to bring those responsible to account,” Amnesty International said. Mary Daniel, whose brother Mina was killed in the Maspero Massacre, told The Associated Press that, “The case won’t die, and blood won’t be forgotten no matter how much time passes.” The killings on October 9, 2011, later dubbed ‘Bloody Sunday’, marked the largest attack on Egyptian Christians in recent memory and the worst violence in the country since President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster from power in February 2011.
10/9/2012 Egypt (Google News)- Thousands of Egyptian protesters marched Tuesday to mark one year since nearly 30 people were killed in a Coptic Christian demonstration that was violently crushed by security forces.
Demonstrators carrying posters of those who died during the violence walked solemnly down a main Cairo thoroughfare in the working class district of Shubra towards Maspero, in the city centre.
Some waved flags, others held posters of officials they want to see put on trial.
Groups of them chanted against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the military ruler who took charge of the country following the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, and whose forces are accused of killing the protesters.
“Either we get justice, or we die like them,” they sang.
The march was organised by the Maspero Youth Union, a group of Coptic activists formed in the wake of last year’s deadly protest that left Egypt’s Christian community deeply scarred.
“The only political demand on this day is to seek justice for the martyrs and for the criminals implicated in the massacre be tried,” the group said on Facebook.
Tuesday’s procession followed the route taken a year ago by the Coptic protesters.
On October 9, 2011, thousands of demonstrators marched from Shubra to Maspero to denounce the torching of a church in the southern province of Aswan.
The protest was attacked and violence flared when the army and riot police charged at the protesters, leaving 26 Coptic Christians, one Muslim man and one policeman dead, says Amnesty International.
Graphic videos that were subsequently posted on the Internet showed army vehicles ramming into protesters at high speed.
…
[Full Story]