The fights and killings in al-Khusus, a few weeks ago show what havoc mistakes in the behavior of Christians of Christians can cause:
-One Christian killed a Muslim for offenses against his religion resulting in a massive retaliation of local Muslims and the local police not wanting to interfere out of fear that they might be accused of siding with Christians, leaving Christians even more vulnerable.
-Coptic human rights lawyer, Naguib Gibrail, and activists led a
demonstration of Coptic protestors before the Coptic Cathedral and used aggressive language against Muslims. What followed is know: the highly-publicized fights at the Cathedral that led to strong criticism of the police. The incitements of Naguib Gibrail preceding the fights were, however, rarely mentioned.
The recent clashes in Alexandria and Matay show how easily new tensions between Muslims and Christians can erupt and escalate. Jihad Watch and AINA have the tendency to add spice to the facts, making dramatic events even more dramatic.
The most recent clashes show how volatile the current situation is. Any small conflict can easily get out of hand and Christians, the smallest religious group in Egypt, have to bear the brunt of it. There is a tendency of group punishments of Christians for any (perceived) mistake by any Christian. Christians need to be extremely cautious and avoid tensions with Muslims because they easily can escalate because of the absence of the rule of law. Instead we now see the law of the jungle—the strongest party gets its way. In this period of lawlessness, local Muslims who feel they have been wronged by a Christian target the entire community, including Christians who were not part of the initial conflict. This creates a strong sense of insecurity among Christians.
