The Rebellion in the Middle East and North Africa

Amnesty's Egypt researcher Diana Eltahawy blogs from Cairo

On Sunday I attended the Cairo funeral of four Coptic Christians killed on Friday night in Khousous, a small town north of the city.

I had been planning to travel to Khousous to find out more about the sectarian violence which led to the deaths there.

Instead, I found myself caught up in more violence at the funeral itself — with mourners on one side, and unknown assailants and, later, security forces on the other.

Before the clashes erupted, feelings of grief, anger and injustice were palpable inside Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, which was filled with mourners. Tears, prayers and wailing were drowned out by chants against the government and the Muslim Brotherhood, and vows to avenge the dead.

Shortly after the caskets and funeral procession made their way out of the cathedral, violence broke out nearby between some of the mourners and assailants reported to be residents of the area.

By Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s North Africa Researcher

Arriving in Cairo a few days before the constitutional referendum held on Saturday 15 December, I couldn’t remember a more bitterly divided and polarized Egypt.

During my last visit to the country as part of an Amnesty International delegation to document human rights violations committed during the 18 days of the “25 January Revolution”, there was a palpable sense of unity among protesters despite the suffering and violence.

Egyptians from all walks of life – women and men, Christians and Muslims, young and old, liberal and Islamist, affluent and poor – stood together against the government and its tactics to crush the uprising. They put aside their political, religious and ideological differences to fight for a common cause, and they were successful.  

Today, these differences have pitted regular Egyptians against each other and led to bloody clashes in the streets which left at least 12 people dead in the last few weeks. Protesters – who just months ago stood side by side to confront the security forces and the army – found each other on opposite sides of violent clashes.

Post by Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa team, on the ground in Cairo.

Egyptians have returned to Tahrir Square many times since Hosni Mubarak fell, but rarely in these numbers.© Matic Zorman / Demotix

Egyptians have returned to Tahrir Square many times since Hosni Mubarak fell, but rarely in these numbers.

After the massive protest on Tuesday 27 November, some are even beginning to talk of a second uprising, a “November revolution”.

Meanwhile President Morsi’s supporters are planning their response – a gathering in Tahrir on Saturday raising fears of clashes between the different camps.

Not long ago, protesters were calling for an end to military rule. Today, large numbers are chanting against President Mohamed Morsi – the country’s first elected president and the man many had hoped would finally restore the rule of law.