Mystery of Muslim woman's disappearance leaves Kom Ombo in crisis

Mystery of Muslim woman's disappearance leaves Kom Ombo in crisis

Al Ahram

 

 Mystery of Muslim woman's disappearance leaves Kom Ombo in crisis (Photo: Al-Ahram)

A rumour has spread in the Upper Egyptian city of Kom Ombo that a divorced Muslim woman in her mid-30s was kidnapped by the Coptic Church and converted to Christianity. In an area divided by tribal and religious allegiances, the story has fuelled violence against the area's Christian minority.

The city's largest church, the Church of Mar Girgis, has been under attack for the past three days by what residents describe as "unknown assailants." Mostly in their teens, hundreds of young boys and men have been surrounding the church and pelting it with rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Central Security Forces (CSF) and soldiers have used teargas to repel the assailants, but Molotov cocktails and rocks have landed on the roof of the church and in its central courtyard.

A field hospital was set up in a corner of the courtyard, while many of the injured sat inside the church resting. Others prayed. One young man in the church had burns on his arms and back, which he said he had suffered from a Molotov cocktail thrown at the church.

"The missing woman is not in this church as you can see … Her family never claimed she was," the church's Father Abanob Wahid told Ahram Online.

"Influential Muslim figures, as well as imams in mosques, have been urging people to calm down, assuring them the woman is not in the church … Some have even visited the church and looked around to assure people, but the violence continues," he added.

Christians attacked

The violence is not only limited to the church. Seventeen-year-old Copt Abanob, whose arm was covered with medical bandages, said he was attacked by a young man also in his teens who had first asked him whether or not he was Christian.

"'Yes, I'm a Christian! What's your problem?' I exclaimed before he and his friend followed me. He took out a pocketknife and aimed at my face but cut my arm instead, which I quickly raised to cover my face in an attempt to protect myself," Abanob told Ahram Online.

Not far from the scene of the clashes is the home of the missing woman, to which Ahram Online headed to meet the woman's brother at the local mandara, a space for social events, located near their house. The planned meeting never materialised, however, as a crowd — very similar to that surrounding the church — intervened.