After the Egyptian Revolution: The Wars of Religion

 

Christian Teen Killed In Egyptian Riot

After the Egyptian Revolution: The Wars of Religion

The angry, aggressive crowd formed within minutes of my arrival. Dozens of Muslim men came together in the middle of the dusty dirt path leading to the Church of the Two Martyrs in this village south of Cairo.

The men were determined to block access to what has become a sectarian sore: a church overrun by Muslim locals and desecrated.

“You can’t see it!” a group of men screamed.

In an armored personnel carrier, several soldiers in red berets watched the fracas from farther up the road.

Closer by, at least a dozen soldiers in flak jackets and helmets marched down an adjacent side street, barring anyone from following them. “You are not allowed to pass,” some of the men yelled at me. “Leave! Leave now!”

 “Are you Christian?” another asked.

“What are you going to see?” asked Mahmoud Mohammad, 30, who appeared to be their spokesman.

“Destroyed walls and a burned building?”

I told him I wanted to reach the church. 

“It’s not a church,” he said, raising his voice. “It is a meeting place, and we don’t want a church here,” he added before grabbing my notebook, ripping out several pages and forcibly marching me out of the village.

(THE CHURCH OF ST MINUS AND ST GEORGE HAS BEEN LOCATED ON THAT SITE FOR 1700 YEARS – 400 years before the start of Islam)

Egyptian Army Blocks Street

(The dispute started over a relationship between a Muslim woman and a Christian man. When the father of the woman refused to “maintain his family’s homor (by killing his daughter) the father was murdered by a cousin. In turn, the murdered man’s son, killed his father’s murderer.)

“After Friday prayers, some of the youth were angry and still mourning, so they came to the church looking for that filthy Christian,” Mohammad said, referring to the young man involved in the love affair.

They didn’t find him, but they ransacked the church. “We found wine (communion wine) and books against Islam,” (Bibles – most of the Muslim villagers can’t read) Mohammad claimed as other men interrupted to speak of other alleged wrongdoings by their Christian neighbors. “They rape our women!” one yelled. “They overcharge us at their stores!” said another.

It is unclear how many people were killed in Sole, but after Christians demonstrated in Cairo on Tuesday night against the desecration of the village church, a fight ensued with groups of Muslims, leading to violence that left 13 dead and 140 wounded.

New Year's Day Church Bombiing Victims - Attack Carried Out By Terrorists From The Gaza Strip

Tensions between Egypt’s majority Muslim population and Christians … rose sharply after a church in Alexandria was bombed on New Year’s Day. Twenty-one worshippers were killed in the attack.

Many of Sole’s Christian residents have fled, fearing further violence. Maher Sadiq, 26, isn’t one of them. He says many of the town’s Christian menfolk are staying to defend their homes. Sadiq, who says his house is on the same street as the church. “They’ve turned the church into a mosque,”he said by telephone. “There’s a banner in front of it that says ‘Al-Ramla Mosque.’ They’re not letting anyone go near the church. We will not leave. We’re prepared to die here.”

 Aziz Narooz, 27, and Hani Diab, 26, traveled from Sole earlier on Wednesday to join the hundreds of Coptic Christians maintaining a sit-in outside the state television headquarters. Many were sleeping on blankets spread out on the pavement. Most were carrying large wooden crosses. “People are scared. Some haven’t left their homes in days,” “They burned our church, they kicked around the statues of our saints” and “They tore up the Bible, and they’re still there.”

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2058032,00.html?xid=rss-world-yahoo

 

VIDEO: Egyptian Armed Forces Fire At Christian Monastery – 19 Injured – St. Bishoy Monastery

Egyptian Soldier prepares to fire RPG round at St Bishoy Monastery

Egyptian Armed Forces Fire At Christian Monasteries, 19 Injured

For the second time in as many days, Egyptian armed force stormed the 5th century old St. Bishoy monastery in Wadi el-Natroun, 110 kilometers from Cairo. Live ammunition was fired, wounding two monks and six Coptic monastery workers. Several sources confirmed the army’s use of RPG ammunition. Four people have been arrested including three monks and a Coptic lawyer who was at the monastery investigating yesterday’s army attack.

 

The armed forces stormed the main entrance gate to the monastery in the morning using five tanks, armored vehicles and a bulldozer to demolish the fence built by the monastery last month to protect themselves and the monastery from the lawlessness which prevailed in Egypt during the January 25 Uprising.

The monks had built a hand made brick wall with a gate during the weeks long “revolution” in order to protect both

Ancient Monastery of St. Bishoy

 the Monks and the Monastary from roving bands of armed criminals.

One of the monks was beaten severely enough by one of the “criminals” during the revolution that he remains hospitalized today ….

Why would the Army use force to destroy the security wall and gate before the civil police have returned to the streets of this village?

Won’t this action simply encourage the “criminals” to return and do more violence to the monasetry and the monks?

9 Christians Killed, 150 Injured in Attack By 15,000 Muslims and Egyptian Army

Entrance St. Simon the Tanner Monastery

According to Father Abram Fahmy, pastor of St. Simon the Tanner Monastery in Mokatam Hills, on the outskirts of Cairo, Copts were killed and injured today in a fresh attack by Muslims. It was reported the Egyptian army fired live ammunition on Copts. The attack has claimed until now the lives of 9 Copts and injured 150, 45 seriously. 

St. Simon the Tanner Church is a series of caves containing seven churches and chapels of the Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner. Carved directly from the rock, the Coptic Christian churches are a unique example of the faith and dedication of the zabaleen people. The church(es) are tucked away in the Muqattam Hills.

Muslims threw fire balls at the Monastery from the top of the hills. Coptic youth have arrested five of them, who are now being held within the Monastery grounds, waiting to be handed over to the authorities. 

Eight homes and 20 garbage recycling factories owned by Copts have been torched, as well as 30 garbage collection vehicles.

St Simon the Tanner Hall (Cave #1)

The incident started when 500 Coptic demonstrators from Manshier Nasr, which is near the Monastery, were on their way to join the Coptic protest near the Egyptian TV Building, to show their solidarity with the Copts of the village of Soul in Atfif, who were forcibly displaced from their village and their church torched. Nearly 15,000 Muslims from the nearby area of Sayeda Aisha and Mokattam, who were armed with weapons including automatic guns, confronted the Copts. 

The clashes first started with hurling of stones at the Coptic demonstrators, then Molotov Cocktails. According to eyewitnesses the Copts called the army which arrived at the scene at 15:00 (3:00 PM Egyptian time) with 10 tanks . At first the military stood by watching, then shot in the air, then at the Coptic side with live ammunition. 

“We were at one side and the Muslim on the other, we have hundreds of injured at the Coptic side,” said an eyewitness. “The Muslims were also shooting from behind the army tanks.”  

 

Christians march from Cairo TV to Tahrir Sqaure

There was a media blackout on the incident. There are no reports of any Muslim casualties. 

SO MUCH FOR THE OFTEN REPEATED CLAIM THAT THE EYPTIAN MILITARY CAN PREVENT THE FUNDAMENTALISTS FROM TAKING CONTROL OF EGYPT. AS THE SMALL NUMBER OF SECULAR LEFTISTS IN EGYPT IS SWEPT OUT OF THE WAY BY THEIR MASTERS, THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, EGYPT PLUNGES FULL SPEED AHEAD INTO A REINCARNATION AS A FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAMIC STATE.  

IRAN REPEATED.

Sectarian Clashes in Egypt Challenge Revolutionary Idealism

 

Christians march from Cairo TV to Tahrir Sqaure

Sectarian Clashes in Egypt Challenge Revolutionary Idealism

 

CAIRO: On the banks of the Nile, in the middle of a roiling protest Wednesday by hundreds of chanting Christians, a man raised a Koran in one hand and a wooden cross in the other. “I came here because we don’t want sectarian strife,” said Ahmed Moustafa, a 37-year-old Muslim. “Muslims and Christians are united.”  

But such idealism might be waning as Egyptians confront the worst outbreak of religious violence since Hosni Mubarak was swept out of power Feb. 11. The deaths of 13 people in clashes in Cairo between Muslims and Christians late Tuesday have prompted calls for religious tolerance and raised the prospect of a deepening sectarian divide after a post-revolution honeymoon period. Street battles broke out after Copts set up roadblocks in major arteries to protest the destruction of one of their churches. Security is scant in this metropolis of 18 million, where the military-controlled government is still groping to find a way to tamp down crime with no functioning police force. 

Muslim Brotherhood gathers in Tahrir Square for counter protest

Although clashes between Muslims and Christians are not new in Egypt, they often take place far from the capital. That the overnight violence continued for hours near the heart of Cairo is bound to add to concerns among Christians that weeks of tumult in Egypt have left them particularly vulnerable in a country that is overwhelmingly Muslim. 

Some witnesses said that the Egyptian army had stood by for as long as four hours without intervening in the fighting.  http://aina.org/news/2011039212001.htm

Protesters march in Cairo after church attacks

Officials said that all of those who were killed died of gunshot wounds and that 140 others were injured. Copts said that all of the victims were Christian adherents, but other reports said that as many as five Muslims were killed.

SO MUCH FOR THE OFTEN REPEATED CLAIM THAT THE EYPTIAN MILITARY CAN PREVENT THE FUNDAMENTALISTS FROM TAKING CONTROL OF EGYPT.

 

AS THE SMALL NUMBER OF SECULAR LEFTISTS IN EGYPT IS SWEPT OUT OF THE WAY BY THEIR MASTERS, THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, EGYPT PLUNGES FULL SPEED AHEAD INTO A REINCARNATION AS AN FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAMIC STATE.  

IRAN REPEATED.

Ethiopia Sends Military to Stop Muslim Violence Against Christians

Ethiopia Sends Military to Stop Muslim Violence Against Christians

The Ethiopian government has sent military forces to put down the anti-Christian violence perpetrated by Muslims in Asendabo and the surrounding areas. Government officials have arrested several Muslims suspected of attacking Christians in the area.

 

Since the attacks began on March 2, 2011, Muslims killed one Christian, wounded several others, burned down 55 churches, 30 Christian homes, a Bible school, a Christian orphanage, and a church office. More than 3,000 Christians are now displaced because of the violence.

 

The violence started after Muslims falsely accused Christians of desecrating the Qur’an. The local police and government officials did nothing to stop the attackers. Federal government officials have now stepped in and removed the local Muslim administrator for his failure to protect Christians.

 

“It’s very sad that a radical Muslim group destabilizes the unity of Ethiopian Christians and Muslims. We are devastated by the attacks and we urge all concerned people to help us. We call upon Ethiopian officials to prevent similar attacks from happening in the future,” The Muslim attackers came from different parts of Ethiopia, including the Somali region.

 

(Somalia, which is located to the south and east of Ethiopia and is home to both the Somali Pirates and the ultra militant and violent al-Shabab group, shares a long border with Somalia. The same groups are leaving southern Somalia and attacking Christians and burning churches in the northern regions of Kenya. The fact that this type of activity was taking place in the Sudan for over a decade has been well documented by the press. The Sudan is located on Ethiopia’s northern border.).

 

Asendabo is a town located in Jimma Zone, Western Ethiopia. Western Ethiopia was the scene of violent attacks against Christians in 2006 when Muslims killed more than a dozen Christians and burned down several churches. Thousands of Christians have been forced to leave their homes as a result of these attacks.

 

“Islamic radicals are fighting to establish an Islamic state in Christian majority Ethiopia. Unfortunately, the Christians have borne the brunt of the Islamic attacks. Christians will continue to be killed unless the government of Ethiopia starts taking serious measures to stop Islamists from carrying out similar attacks. We urge all the concerned to put pressure on Ethiopia to protect its citizens.”

 

http://aina.org/news/201103921279.htm

 

Posted GMT 3-10-2011 3:27 

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