Mubarak's Ghost.

Four weeks after Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down the Egyptian people are still protesting to change the system of government by which Mubarak ruled. Although for the most part these have been some of the most orderly and polite demonstrations I think I've ever seen there have still been some violent and worrying incidents.

On March 8th a group of Coptic Christians gathered in Cairo to protest against the burning down of a church in Hilwan a week earlier. Although the leader of Egypt's main Muslim group has condemned the incident as un-Islamic and called on Muslims to help the Christians rebuild the church the attack is widely being blamed on Muslims. At the demonstration in Cairo tempers flared when local Muslim residents became angry that the non-local Christian protesters were blocking all the roads. In the ensuing violence 10 people were killed and 140 injured with the casualties divided between the two groups.

The following day, March 9th, hundreds of men armed with sticks, stones and swords launched a co-ordinated attack of the protesters who are still occupying the pedestrian areas of Tahrir square. After a few hours of sustained street fighting the attackers were beaten back by the protesters although at least two serious injuries were reported.

While Mubarak himself has gone the protests in Tahrir square remain as part of an unofficial agreement between the protesters and the ruling military council that keeps up the pressure for political reform and prevents Egypt falling back into it's old, undemocratic ways only with a different dictator in charge. Therefore I think the attack on the square and the attack on the church were co-ordinated by people who had a huge stake in the Mubarak regime and want to divide and conquer the protesters before they bring about too much change to Egypt's established order.