2011 Imbaba Church Attacks

The 2011 Imbaba Church Attacks are a series of attacks that took place on 7 May 2011 on Coptic Christian churches in the district of Imbaba in Cairo, Egypt. The attacks were blamed on Salafi Muslims. The attacks resulted in the burning of 3 Coptic Orthodox churches, and the destruction of many Christian-owned houses and businesses. In addition, 12 people were killed in the attacks, and about 120 injured. All those killed were Coptic Christians, shot dead by thugs and Muslim fundamentalist Salafis. Imbaba has been known to be a stronghold of Muslim fundamentalists since the 1970's, but also comprises a significant number of Coptic Christians.
Events
The attack began when a mob estimated at 500 "hard-line" Salafi Muslims attacked the Coptic Orthodox church of Saint Mina in Imababa, claiming that a Christian convert to Islam was held hostage there. Christians denied that anybody was being held hostage, and police search of the church did not reveal anything. Yet, Salafi Muslims insisted on attacking the church. When the Christians protected their church and refused that the Muslims raid it, the Salafis opened gunfire at them, and threw firebombs and molotov cocktails. There were no guns with the Christians, and no gunshots were shot from within the church. During the attacks, the two sides also exchanged the throwing of stones. Apartments and shops belonging to the Christians were also torched and destroyed.
After torching the Coptic Orthodox church of Saint Mina, Salafis went ahead and burned another church, the Coptic Orthodox church of the Virgin Mary, also in Imbaba.
The Copts then took to the streets to protest the attacks, chanting "Oh God! Oh Jesus!", and "We sacrifice our souls and blood for the Holy Cross". They also clashed with army soldiers, blaming them for not doing enough to protect the Christians and their churches. On the other hand, Salafi Muslims demonstrated shouting "We sacrifice our souls and blood for Islam" While other Muslims, especially residents of the area shouted "Muslims and Christians are one hand", with both Muslim and Christian residents of Imbaba attempting to protect the churches and stop the fires and violence. Many blamed the police and army forces for remaining as bystanders without intervening while the two groups were clashing together. In addition, many injured victims could not be transported to hospitals because the ambulance cars were prevented from entering the area of clashes.
Background
The attacks took place on the same day a video was broadcasted featuring Kamilia Shehata, a Christian woman whom the Salafi Muslims claimed had converted to Islam and was being held hostage by the Coptic Church. In that video, Kamilia Shehata affirmed that she was Christian and had never converted to Islam. She also mentioned that everything the Salafis said about her were "lies" and "completely wrong facts". Kamilia Shehata had been a major focus of Salafi activism since 2010. They had organized several marches in Alexandria calling for her release and attacking Pope Shenouda III. They also threatened to attack churches in order to free her. On 29 April 2011, about 2,000 Salafi Muslims protested outside the headquarters of the Coptic Orthodox Church in to demand the release of Kamilia Shehata. These claims of the Coptic Church holding Kamilia Shehata hostage were picked up by Al Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq to justify their 2010 Baghdad church attack, which resulted in the massacre of 58 Christians in Iraq. The group also vowed more attacks until Kamilia was released. Two months later, on New Year's Eve 2011, a suicide bomber killed 23 Coptic Christians in the 2011 Alexandria bombing.
Reaction
The Christian Copts who were injured in the attacks strongly criticized the Muslim Salafis and accused them of instigating and staging the attacks. One particular prominent Salafi figure, Mohamed Hassan, took much of the blame. The Christian victims also expressed their concerns about being the targets of systematic attacks, and about the leniency of the police and the military to protect them.
Immediately following the attacks, a few Copts demonstrated in front of the American Embassy in Cairo, calling for international protection of Egypt's Christian community, and criticizing the Egyptian government for not doing enough to protect them.
On the day following the attack, thousands of Christians protested in Tahrir Square and in front of Maspiro (the state TV) against the government's leniency towards the aggressors and to call for immediate investigation into the clashes and the torching of churches. These demonstrations resulted in various clashes between Christians and Muslims, which resulted in the injury of 42 people.
Consequences
The attacks had profound impact on the relationship between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. For the first time, Coptic Christians decided to form self-defense militias to protect Christian churches, homes and businesses.
Following the attacks, the Egyptian army declared it had arrested 190 people in connection with the clashes.

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