A few weeks ago there was a lot of fuss being made about sites threatened or damaged because of neglect by the Morsi government, this was preparing the ground for the 3rd July military takeover. Things did not get better with a change of government, over the past day or so churches have been burnt (it is unclear whether this is disgruntled Islamists, or those concerned to create the impression of civil disturbance and chaos caused by the latter which needs to be 'cracked down on' - this went on a lot in Mubarak's times too). Yesterday a couple of churches were destroyed, including historical ones, there are fears for others. A dangerous new turn in events was that Mallawi Museum in Minya governate was looted and attacked by a mob, this broke out at three in the afternoon. The security guards were shot at and the museum director is reported injured. Since then, "most of the small objects of the Mallawi museum have been completely looted". There is now on Facebook something called "Mallawi Museum Tentative Red List" put up by the "Egypt's Heritage Task Force" Facebook group. This actually consists of a load of snaps of what was in the Museum, it remains unclear at the time of writing what has gone and what was damaged. They appeal:Until a complete inventory is carried out on the Mallawi museum, please alert auction houses, antiquities shops and customs offices of the following objects that could have been looted today from the museum. We will also update this collection continuously. Some of the photographs be me repeated to give different and better angles to the objects. Photos are courtesy of Tatiana Matveeva - Russia, Brenda Hill, Nick Picardo, and Akiko NishisakaReports were coming in this morning that "Tuna el-Gebel Museum is currently being attacked".
[UPDATE on Mallawi: Monica Hanna reports at five this morning: "Mallawi museum is completely looted and what has not been looted was completely destroyed in addition to cases, desks and computer"].
The following list is of Egyptian churches and Christian institutions targeted yesterday: http://nilerevolt.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/1198/ - a joint effort of Amira Mikhail, Mai El-Sadany, and Amir Beshay.
No doubt the Egyptian army in charge of the country will immediately be stepping up their efforts to make sure this sort of disturbance is prevented. Not just through a 'curfew' but actively protecting cultural sites. Yes? Or is it, as shahiraamin observes, "more important for them to allow this to happen to further tarnish the image of the Moslem Brotherhood than to protect places of worship and lives"?
UPDATE 15.08.13:
Margaret Maitland notes: Al-Masry Al-Youm article on looting at Mallawi Museum
Photo: This is about monuments and people (Telegraph)
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