Highlight: Since August 14, Dijlā has witnessed terrifying episodes of violence toward both Christian and Muslim citizens, their buildings, and the security forces, preventing them from intervening.
Diljā is inhabited by 120,000 people, of which 20% are Christians. In the village there are 70 mosques and 5 churches. Prior to recent events, the village was a quiet place, even during the January 25 Revolution.
According to a Christian citizen, things changed with Morsi’s (Mursī) rise to power, when people from the village started showing their support for the president. However, the situation ignited only after Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi’s (‘Abd al-Fattāh al-Sīsī) speech on July 3, announcing the president’s deposal and the new road map for the country. Large numbers of locals belonging to Islamic currents marched through the village's streets, attacking churches and burning their contents and facilities. The justification those people give to this violence is the Christians’ participation in the June 30 demonstrations, their request of Morsi’s deposal, and Pope Tawadros’ presence next to al-Sisi and al-Azhar Shaykh during the announcement. Nonetheless, the young boy is totally sure that those who burned the churches are just criminals, who exploit the demonstrations for their aims, such as that of attacking the police station.
After the attacks, many Christian families left the village, while those who remained live in a situation of fear and terror, especially after the security forces abandoned them. Furthermore, a new way to seize Christian properties is spreading among the thugs: they go to Copts’ houses and, with weapons, order them to leave for one hour. If they refuse, their sons will be kidnapped. When the owners come back, they find their house completely looted.
The young man says that no one protects them except for a few neighbors who formed vigilante groups to defend them and their houses, like the 61-year-old man sitting in front of two churches day and night to protect them. According to the guard, people are disappointed by what happened to the Christians, as the marches started in a peaceful way and had no purposes of destruction.
One of the members of the vigilante groups said that in order for the Christians to be able to live, the locals have left their jobs and joined the vigilante groups, due to the lack of security forces since July 3. People are now tired and want the police to come back and do their job so that they can go back to their tasks as well; however, no one can deny that the village has been resisting the security force’s return for fear of random arrests, as it happened to some families, but at the same time everyone sees the reconciliation as beneficial for the whole area (Samāh 'Abd al-'Atī, Mahmūd 'Abd al-Rahmān, Ahmad Mun'am, al-Watan, Sept. 4, p. 11). The article has no link online.
(Daniela De Maria, Intern)
