CAIRO: Tens of Copts demonstrated on Wednesday inside Abbasiya Cathedral against what they described as "the judicial delay in issuing a verdict in the Nagaa Hammadi murder case.” The case involves three Muslims persecuted for the armed attack and killing of six Copts and one Muslim guard as they left the church following midnight mass on Eastern Christmas on Jan. 7 this year in Nagaa Hammadi, Qena. The demonstration started before Pope Shenouda's weekly sermon. Security forces and Cathedral guards prevented reporters from entering, surrounding the Cathedral with a cordon. The demonstrators held photos of the Nagaa Hammadi victims and banners bearing angry phrases such as "Scream out load, the rights of the martyrs shall not die." They also repeated slogans against the ruling National Democratic Party such as, "This is the racist party that protects sectarianism." They further criticized a meeting between NDP MP Ahmed Ezz and another NDP MP, Abdel-Rahim El-Ghoul who was rumored to have masterminded the shootings. Security forces tried to break up the protest minutes after it started, but the protestors refused to move, threatening to take the demonstration to the streets. Church leaders tried to convince the protestors to end the demonstration, but they refused and decided to stop it temporarily for the Pope's sermon, resuming it afterwards. Sami Girgis, one of the protestors, told Daily News Egypt after that the aim of the demonstration is to draw attention to what he described as "rejecting the [court's] delay". He added: "We are discussing organizing other demonstrations until the trial resumes on May 16."
