ICC Note: A vigil was held in Cairo to mark the third anniversary of the killing of nearly 30 Christians during a demonstration protesting a church attack in Upper Egypt. The army and security forces attacked the protestors injuring nearly 300 of the more than 10,000 were demonstrating on the streets of Cairo. A full investigation of the incident still has not been carried out.
10/09/2014 Egypt (Middle East Eye) – Dozens of people gathered together in Cairo on Thursday to mark the third anniversary of the killings at Maspero. Nearly 30 Egyptians, mostly Coptic Christians, were killed and almost 300 injured on 9 October 2011 when the army and security forces attacked people protesting the demolition of a church in Upper Egypt.
The governor of Aswan Mustafa Kamel el-Sayyed said the church had been demolished as it was built without a license, which prompted protests led by Christians angry at the decision. The protest in Cairo came about after Coptic leaders rejected Salafist demands that Christians should remove public symbols of their religion including church crosses.
Eyewitnesses estimated 10,000 people took part in the protest that saw demonstrators march from the Shubra district in Cairo towards Maspiro to hold a sit-in at the television building. Raw video footage from the evening showed soldiers firing on protesters and armoured personnel carriers running people over.
28 people were killed in what was the bloodiest day in Egypt since the January revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak some eight months earlier.
A vigil was held in Cairo on Thursday to remember those killed three years ago and Twitter users shared their thoughts using the #Maspiro hashtag.
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