COPTS MARCH ON WASHINGTON
| COPTS MARCH ON WASHINGTON, PROTEST ANTI-COPTIC HATE CRIMES IN EGYPT | ||
| Washington, D.C. (4/19/06)—Coptic Christians today demonstrated in front of the White House and the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., demanding the Egyptian government’s response to recent hate crimes against Alexandria, Egypt’s Coptic minority. The protestors were led by U.S. Copts Association president Michael Meunier and joined by several Muslim and Arab leaders, including Ms. Zainab Al-Suwaij, Executive Director of the American Islamic Congress, and Mr. Ali Al-Ahmed, Director of the Institute of Gulf Affairs.
Coptic Christians from several states descended on the U.S. capital to express their anguish over the Friday, April 14, 2006 stabbing attacks by Islamist extremists on three Coptic Orthodox churches in Alexandria, Egypt, one of which resulted in the murder of a Coptic churchgoer. Protestors brandished Egyptian and American flags and banners reading “Stop persecution of Copts in Egypt” and “What is good for the Copts is good for Egypt.” The demonstrators chanted in English and Arabic and sang both the Egyptian national anthem “Biladi, Biladi” (My Country, My Country)in Arabic and hymns in Coptic, the most recent form of the ancient Egyptian language. The protest attracted significant attention from international satellite camera crews and hundreds of visitors touring the nation’s capital.
U.S. Copts Association president Michael Meunier led the demonstrations, calling on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian government to hold accountable negligent Ministry of the Interior officials and police officers. A U.S. Copts delegation including Mr. Meunier and Mr. Cameel Halim later met with Egyptian Embassy officials to discuss the Egyptian government’s unsatisfactory response to the terrorist acts in Alexandria. The delegation delivered a letter from Mr. Meunier to President Mubarak urging the head of state to “demonstrate his commitment to Egyptian national unity and democratic development by firing his Minister of the Interior and Alexandria’s highest-level security officials.”
Last week’s Alexandria stabbing attacks and riots come after several similarly deadly anti-Coptic attacks, including the January 2006 murder of a Coptic churchgoer in Upper Egypt and a string of brutal October 2005 hate crimes against Alexandria’s Coptic Orthodox and Protestant communities such as the stabbing of a Coptic nun by a militant Islamist.
For more updates on the demonstration as well as pictures of the protestors, please visit the U.S. Copts Association websites at www.copts.com .
### The U.S. Copts Association, founded in 1996 and based in Washington D.C., advocates for democracy, religious freedom, and human rights in Egypt. The Association represents over 700,000 Egyptian Christians in the United States. The Association can be reached at www.copts.com and copts@copts.com
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