In the past weeks, Bishop Musa and later Pope Shenouda have controversially called for an end of the latest Maspero sit-in and thus again taken a stance against Coptic street protests.
The sit-in was started following a protest march from Is'af Square to Maspero on 8 May 2011. On the afternoon of that day and the early morning of the next day, the army tried to violently disperse the protest. I visited on the morning of 10 May. On the same day, al-Masry al-Youm published Bishop Musa's call to end the sit-in.
There was a nightly baltagiyya attack with shots fired at the protesters on 14 May, 18 people were arrested and referred to military courts (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/441062).
Immediately after that, Pope Shenouda urged the protesters to end the sit-in on public television:
The priests and the majoriy of the protesters declared an end to the sit-in on Friday 20 May: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/446018
A backgrounder by al-Masry al-Youm on 19 May (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/444129) cites Mina Thabet of the Maspero movement and Yusuf Sidhom to find out whether the relationship between the Copts and the church leadership has changed.
The sit-in was started following a protest march from Is'af Square to Maspero on 8 May 2011. On the afternoon of that day and the early morning of the next day, the army tried to violently disperse the protest. I visited on the morning of 10 May. On the same day, al-Masry al-Youm published Bishop Musa's call to end the sit-in.
There was a nightly baltagiyya attack with shots fired at the protesters on 14 May, 18 people were arrested and referred to military courts (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/441062).
Immediately after that, Pope Shenouda urged the protesters to end the sit-in on public television:
In a statement delivered to state TV on Sunday, Shenouda said "the situation has exceeded the expression of opinion," warning that the protests have been infiltrated by outsiders, which has led to battles and gun fights. "This will distort your image and Egypt's reputation, this sit-in has to be dispersed immediately", he said to the protesters.
"You are the ones to lose should demonstrations proceed - the rulers are growing impatient", he said. (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/437588)
The priests and the majoriy of the protesters declared an end to the sit-in on Friday 20 May: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/446018
A backgrounder by al-Masry al-Youm on 19 May (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/444129) cites Mina Thabet of the Maspero movement and Yusuf Sidhom to find out whether the relationship between the Copts and the church leadership has changed.
“Copts will always maintain a spiritual relationship with the church as an umbrella for them, but politically, the church is no longer a patron for them,” said Youssef Sidhom, editor of the Coptic Watany weekly. The political void in which the church brokered all deals with the regime in the name of Christians is long gone, according to Sidhom.
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