Protests continued throughout Cairo on Sunday to denounce the New Year’s Eve bombing of a church in the coastal city of Alexandria that killed 21 people and injured scores of others.
At a protest held on Sunday afternoon on the Nile corniche in Cairo’s Bulaq district, hundreds of Coptic demonstrators chanted: “I will keep on praying, whatever happens.” Protesters repeatedly attempted to break through a security cordon with the aim of continuing their march along the corniche, but were quickly contained by police after a brief round of stone throwing.
In Talaat Harb Square, scores gathered to protest the church attack, but were quickly stopped by security forces. Protestors and journalists, including Al-Masry Al-Youm’s reporter, were harassed by police and briefly detained.
At Abbasseya’s landmark cathedral, meanwhile, Coptic protesters denounced a visit by the grand sheikh and mufti of Al-Azhar. Demonstrators attempted to attack the car containing the two religious officials, but were stopped by security personnel.
A small demonstration also took place at the entrance of Cairo’s predominantly Christian Manshiyet Nasr neighborhood. Around a dozen young men demonstrated briefly in front of a local church before church officials asked them to disperse. Some residents threw stones from their balconies.
Around 20 police officers were stationed in and around the area in the bombing’s immediate aftermath.
People in the neighborhood expressed outrage and sorrow, although some said they were not surprised. "The Christian community knew such a dramatic event could happen, especially after the al-Qaeda threats," one Coptic schoolteacher told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Earlier this year, an alleged al-Qaeda affiliate based in Iraq had threatened to attack Coptic targets in Egypt in ostensible retaliation for the church’s detention of two women who had reportedly converted to Islam.
One young man from Mansheyet Nasser, for his part, condemned the state security apparatus for failing to thwart the bombing.
"Where were the security guards?” he asked angrily. “How could they let somebody park right in front of the church on New Year's Eve in light of the threats that had been issued only a few weeks earlier?"
Other governorates in both Upper and Lower Egypt also saw protests on Sunday held to condemn the attack.
