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Military forces have taken harsh measures against the protesters, and estimates of the numbers killed range from 20 to nearly 40. More than 1,500 have been injured.
Coptic Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina defended the protesters and strongly condemned the military’s action.
“The authorities have no right to shoot peaceful people,” Bishop Aziz said.
According to Zenit, the Coptic bishop of Giza, a major city outside Cairo, Bishop Aziz was interviewed by Aid to the Church in Need , and explained that both Christians and Muslims were united in Tahrir Square to defend human rights.
“People have a right to speak out in this way,” the bishop said. “The only way they can make their point is by demonstrating.”
Protests have spread outside the capital, to cities such as Alexandria, Suez and Damietta.
Many demonstrators have been affected by tear gas used by police, according to information provided to Asia News by Father Rafic Greiche, a spokesman for the Catholic Church. Others have cuts and gashes and complain about the presence of hooligans amongst the police ranks, he added.
According to the latest news, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council that has ruled Egypt since Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow on February 11, has promised elections will take place in June, 2012, and that the military will hand over power to a civilian president by July next year.
Parliamentary elections had been scheduled to start next Monday, November 28 but there are doubts now as to whether they will go ahead, and whether they will be accepted as legitimate.
Relations between the Coptic Church and the military rulers have been tense, especially following attacks on Christian demonstrators in Cairo in October that caused the deaths of at least 25 people, most of them Christians, and hundreds injured.
On Thursday November 17 hundreds of Coptic Christians marched to demand justice for the October victims. During their protest people throwing stones and bottles attacked them. Around 25 people were injured.
In his interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Aziz said the regime had failed to respond to calls by protestors to ease restrictions on Christian worship, and to loosen restrictions on building churches.
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