Artistic institutions suspend activities following Al-Arish terrorist attack

CAIRO – 25 November 2017: Several culture institutions denounce the recent Al-Arish terrorist attack against Al-Rawda Mosque on Friday; some culture activities have been suspended for three days as Egypt mourns the death of over 300 victims.

Cairo Opera House has announced late Friday that it suspended all culture activities in Cairo, Alexandria, and Damanhour for three consecutive days starting from November 24 until November 26, according to a released statement by the Cairo Opera House.
Artists in all three Egyptian operas have denounced the terrorist attacks describing it as “Black Terrorism” sending condolences to the victims’ family.

The ongoing 39th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) has also condemned the incident; however has not suspended festival activities that run from November 22 to November 30. CIFF president Magda Wassef has addressed the Arish incident in a seminar on Saturday entitled ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Seminar,’ according to CIFF’s released statement.

The festival’s board has confirmed and that CIFF activities will commence without change in plan and vows that it will not be affected by any terror attacks.

“As an international festival, the comfort and security of our guests is one of our core concerns, and all the venues are completely secured and under the supervision of the Egyptian security forces, and a private security company,” CIFF’s mentioned in the statement.

Wassef pointed out that she will soon announce methods in which the festival will implement as means to deal with the recent events. The seminar was organized by UN in efforts to raise awareness about gender rights and struggles women face daily through tackling how the film industry incorporates approaches to raise awareness about the issue.

Head of the Theatrical Professions Syndicate Ashraf Zaki has also urged, in a statement on Saturday, all artists to attend a press conference on Monday at the syndicate to overlook methods to combat terrorism. He further emphasized that all Egyptian artists will support Egyptian state in any decision.