Ashraf Bushra Hanin, the owner of a burned oil store, said he lost on all fronts, and that damages had cost him an estimated 50,000 Egyptian pounds.
He said the council was an agreement between elders, and not between all the people of the village and asked, “Who will compensate the losses of the affected people?” He emphasized that he will not give up seeking satisfaction for the losses, and said he has three daughters and a son who he must pay for.
The owner of a looted grocery store, Sami Makram Saleh, said burning and damage to his shop amounted to an estimated 100,000 pounds worth of damage. He pointed to the approval of the so-called conciliation session and pointed out it was only happening out of fear of more attacks.
“The agreement was reached in order to preserve the rest of the region from attacks by Muslims in neighboring villages. There are rumors of renewed attacks on Copts,” he said. He went on to point out the losses suffered by the region would take 15 years to compensate, and noted that the Copts of the village won’t leave their homes since the incident. Saleh said they had not received compensation for any damages.
Shenouda Agaiby Marcus, the father of the owner of a mobile phone shop said his son’s shop was destroyed in the recent events and losses were estimated at 35,000 pounds. He pointed out that there should be peace until the atmosphere returned to normal and that the attacks shouldn’t be repeated.
He added that Beni Ahmed Copts delegated church leaders and the church has promised to compensate those affected. He predicted that attacks would be repeated on Copts in the village.
Afaf Youssef Wahba, the owner of a burned electronics store noted, “We did not get involved in the events, and we were surprised, so we evacuated and closed the store and we entered our house, but we were surprised by rumors spread in the village. They said Copts attacked the mosque, then nearby Muslim villages attacked all Christian property.
She added that “there is pressure exerted on Copts to approve the meeting’s results, and it was threatened if they didn’t, people from the Rabaa Adaweya Brotherhood sit-in in Cairo would be brought in to attack the Copts.
The widow of Issa Hanna said, “Peace is acceptable to all, but where’s compensation for the losses we suffered?” She added that the magistrate did not present compensation and she was surprised that even after the government examined the losses, there were no promises of compensation.
Georges Faraj said, “The magistrate session may reduce the friction between the two parties, but the question remains how to compensate those who lost or had damaged property.” Faraj demanded compensation for the affected of up to half the value of the losses, noting that there are many affected who did not accept the peace.
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Edited from http://mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=48251