We met with Father Wissa Sobhi, who took us on a tour through the streets to record the losses. We started with Al-Horeya Street, where we saw the diocese, which had been set ablaze by extremists.
The beginning of the street seemed like a war zone. On one side, two stores had completely collapsed after being burned. On the other side of the street, more stores were burned in addition to two houses that belonged to Sami Ayoub and Wassim Halim.
We also witnessed he results of the burning and looting of many stores on Al-Salam and Al-Geish streets. Two of these stores belonged to Fawzi Mokhtar, a grocery shop and three storage houses belonged to Youssef Galid, Nabil Galid and Tharwat Seliman. Sami Ayoub’s house and hardware store were among many others that were burned and looted.
Fawzi Mokhtar’s sons explained that the assailants attacked his shops with Molotov’s, which resulted in their complete collapse after fire had spread, and stated that the situation is catastrophic in light of security’s absence. Groups of thugs have imposed royalties on Copts, and threaten those who refused to pay of kidnapping their children, prompting most of them to pay them.
“I was surprised when 15 people raiding my house and demanded my money,” said Safwat Fayek, whose store was looted. “They then looted the ground floor of the store after they found no money in my house.” He pointed out that his losses are estimated at 200 thousand pounds, and he has been unable to reopen his shops since the attack. He has only been able to install a new metal gate. “How do we go about our business when all of our belongings have been stolen?” he pondered.
Fayek added, “The kidnapping of Copts in Deir Mawas has become a phenomenon prompting many [Copts] to move their children in light of continued absence of security in the city.” He pointed out that he filed a complaint about these attacks, but the prosecution has not yet investigated the incident.
Gamal Zaki, one of Copts’ whose stores were looted, lamented the Copts’ exposure to intimidation and blackmail. He pointed out that they now fear for their houses after their stores were looted and destroyed.
As we approached Al-Sadaqa store, which consists of two stores and a warehouse, our hearts trembled over the tragedy experienced by its owner, Nabila Moussa, a widow and mother of five girls. The woman recounted to us what happened, “We shut our shops, after we heard of Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations. Suddenly, we heard gunshots on the street, and I could see them approaching my house to loot the store on the ground floor. After the looting, they opened fire on the second floor of my house. The assailants attempted to storm my house, and nobody helped [me]. So I had to escape from the roof and jump onto the neighbor’s house for shelter.”
“I knew everything was gone when I saw the destruction the next day. They left nothing for us. I have lost all my belongings,” she recounted. She pointed out that that her girls all live in a state of fear, which led her to move in with her sister. She had only returned to file a complaint.
“What have we done to merit this destruction?” she wondered, noting that she still finds it difficult to sleep after witnessing these violent scenes.
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Edited from: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=49006
