Hundreds protest Egypt violence in Calgary
Woman claims she was assaulted after showing up with a sign supporting the Egyptian military
Roughly 300 Egyptian Canadians were at Calgary City Hall Saturday to protest the increasing violence in Cairo.
People expressed their frustration at what is happening in their country since Egypt's military coup in July.
"It's crazy what's happening in Egypt," said Rihan Dahroug. "We would have never believed this could happen in Egypt. We would have never believed that the army would kill innocent people. It's looking to kill women, children, mothers, journalists. It's looking to kill the truth."
The largely peaceful, yet emotionally-charged, gathering was organized by the Muslim Council of Calgary.
However, one woman says she was assaulted after showing up with a sign supporting the Egyptian military.
"I'm still Muslim, I'm going to pray in the mosque but I don't know what they will do with me," said Manal Mohamed. "I can't trust those people because they see I have a different opinion and they start to attack me."
Police say they are not pursuing an investigation and will not be laying any charges.
More gathering planned
Saturday's gathering wasn't the first time Calgary's Egyptian community has protested events in Cairo.
There have been several smaller protests over the last few months, but Saturday's gathering was the biggest — and won't be the last.
The Egyptian community is holding a debate Sunday at 1:30 p.m. MT at Tomkin Park at the corner of Eighth Street and 17th Avenue S.W. There will be pro-Morsi and pro-military speakers present.
There will also be a protest outside the Alberta legislature in Edmonton Sunday organized by Canadians for Democracy in Egypt, which is being billed as a symbolic show of support for pro-democracy protesters in Egypt.
More than 170 people have been killed and 1,300 injured in the last two days in Cairo. Hundreds more have died over the course of the past week and it's not clear when the violence could end.
The military crackdown comes after Egypt's military ousted the democratically-elected Mohammed Morsi.
Morsi's political party, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been staging sit-ins around Cairo to protest the coup and the army has been responding with deadly force.