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November 2, 2005
US: Protest Against Egyptian Muslim Attacks Upon Coptic Christians
The situation of hostility from Muslims against Christians in Egypt does not seem to be abating. An article from Yahoo News highlights how attacks are continuing, despite the exhortations of President Hosni Mubarak, who told a meeting of Muslim scholars on Saturday that they needed to create "a religious discourse that cuts away intrigues and backbiting among Muslims and Christians — to preserve Egypt's stability, social fabric and national unity."
The Yahoo article suggests that the internet is fuelling hostlities, and mentions how numerous unmonitored small mosques have sprung up across Egypt, in which Christians are called "apostates".
We reported earlier on the plight of the Coptic Christian community, and referred to the website: My Christian Blood, where images and videos of the attacks against churches can be found. Today, the site annonced that a demonstration will be held outside the United Nations in New York tomorrow. The meeting will happen at 12.00pm local time at the junction of 43rd St and 1st Avenue. Christians of all denominations have been invited to attend. Yesterday there were demonstrations in Paris (pictured), outside the Egyptian Embassy.
The troubles began in earnest on 14 October, when Coptic Christians, who comprise 10% of Egypt's' population, were heckled for showing DVDs of a play called "I Once Was Blind But Now I See", which was performed at St George's Church in Alexandria two years previously. On 19 October, a nun was stabbed in the church and had one of her fingers severed. She survived, and her assailant was arrested. On October 21, the violence intensified, and riots ensued in which about 5,000 Muslims, arriving from mosques after Friday prayers, stormed the church. Four people died, and cars were burnt in the ensuing debacle.
The DVDs are being widely distributed, but there is a suggestion that the distribution of these copies of the controversial play are being made not by Copts, but by Muslims who wish to incite anti-Christian violence. So far, at least eight Coptic Christian churches have been defaced.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 2, 2005 11:05 AM
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