Major General Ahmad Sālim al-Nāghī, Director of Giza Security Department, sent 12 formations of the anti-riot police in an attempt to contain the explosive situation and end clashes between Muslims and Christians. Both sides began hurling stones and shooting indiscriminately, injuring the senior security official, 15 of the anti-riot policemen and ten villagers.
When the policemen were trying to end the fighting, local residents involved in the clashes set security vehicles on fire and hurled stones at policemen then went to Saint George Church and tried to torch and storm it but security forces there foiled their plans.
Security forces had to fire tear gas to disperse the residents attempting to burn Christian houses, cordoned off Christian houses and cut the power in an attempt to control the situation.
Clashes re-erupted between both sides, despite tight security measures, and local Muslims called their relatives from nearby villages and attacked and burned a jewelry store owned by a Christian in the village.
Security agencies arrested 20 persons for attempting to storm the Saint George Church.
Muhammad Ahmad Hasab Allāh, the 55-year-old father of Mu’āz, was injured during his attempt to help the policemen prevent the residents from attacking the church.
“I lost my child in these incidents. I do not want the village to burn with the flames of fitnah tā’ifīyah. My son was not involved in these incidents and he was there by coincidence when Christians were throwing Molotov cocktails,” says Hasab Allāh.
Mu’āz was hit by a Molotov cocktail while passing by the area in which a Christian makwagī and five of his relatives clashed with a Muslim after the former burned the latter’s shirt while ironing it. The incident left 12 wounded and four Christians were arrested. [Muhammad Shūmān, al-Ahrām, August 2, 2012, p. 12] Read original text in Arabic
