Egypt: Coptic Christians Attacked During March

[High_Gravity]

Egypt: Coptic Christians Attacked During March

CAIRO -- Attackers threw rocks and broken glass at a march by Coptic Christians in Cairo Thursday, injuring 10, in the latest outbreak of sectarian violence less than two weeks before the start of parliamentary elections.

About 400 Christians marched through the Cairo neighborhood of Shubra to mark the end of 40 days of mourning after sectarian clashes that killed 27 people, most of them Christians, witnesses said.

During the march, attackers threw stones, bricks and broken glass on the marchers from a six-floor apartment building, said marcher Hossam Victor. Clashes broke out and 10 people were injured, two of them seriously.

Victor and other marchers blamed supporters of Gamal Saber, an ultraconservative Islamist candidate in Egypt's parliamentary elections, set to begin Nov. 28.

"They rained rocks and glass down on us from the building, and the police stood by and watched without doing anything," Victor said.

One 25-year-old marcher, whose arm appeared to be broken, said police spotted a tattoo of a cross on his upper arm and shoved him toward the attackers, who beat him, injuring his arm. He declined to give his name, fearing retaliation.

Security forces later separated the sides. Saber, the parliamentary candidate, called the Christian marchers "stupid" and blamed them for starting the clashes as a way to harm his election campaign.

Egypt: Coptic Christians Attacked During March

 

[JStone]

The Coptic Christians are the oldest monotheistic religion in Egypt's 5000 year history [Coptic = Egypt] until the wretched muslimes took over and destroyed Egypt like they have destroyed every islime shithole

 

[High_Gravity]

The Coptic Christians are the oldest monotheistic religion in Egypt's 5000 year history [Coptic = Egypt] until the wretched muslimes took over and destroyed Egypt like they have destroyed every islime shithole

The attacks on Christians have become more and more frequent since Mubarak left office, the Egyptian people have spoken, they don't want the Christians there anymore.

 

[JStone]

The Coptic Christians are the oldest monotheistic religion in Egypt's 5000 year history [Coptic = Egypt] until the wretched muslimes took over and destroyed Egypt like they have destroyed every islime shithole

The attacks on Christians have become more and more frequent since Mubarak left office, the Egyptian people have spoken, they don't want the Christians there anymore.

Muslimes are just doing what they're told...

Sahih Muslim Hadeeth: It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattib that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim

 

[High_Gravity]

The Coptic Christians are the oldest monotheistic religion in Egypt's 5000 year history [Coptic = Egypt] until the wretched muslimes took over and destroyed Egypt like they have destroyed every islime shithole

The attacks on Christians have become more and more frequent since Mubarak left office, the Egyptian people have spoken, they don't want the Christians there anymore.

Muslimes are just doing what they're told...

Sahih Muslim Hadeeth: It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattib that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim

Well we are headed that way, Christians are being chased out of Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan in huge numbers, there will be hardly any Christians there in a few years.

 

[JStone]

The attacks on Christians have become more and more frequent since Mubarak left office, the Egyptian people have spoken, they don't want the Christians there anymore.

Muslimes are just doing what they're told...

Sahih Muslim Hadeeth: It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattib that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim

Well we are headed that way, Muslims are being chased out of Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan in huge numbers, there will be hardly any Christians there in a few years.

Lebanon used to be 80/20 Christian muslime. Today, it's 20/80.

 

[waltky]

Egyptian military cracks down on protesters...

Egypt's military clashes with protesters
16 Dec.`11 – Soldiers stormed an anti-military protest camp outside Egypt's Cabinet building Friday, beating women with sticks and hurling chunks of concrete and glass onto protesters from the roof of the parliament in a resurgence of turmoil only a day after millions voted in parliamentary elections.

At least two protesters were shot to death in the clashes, an activist who saw their bodies said. The heavy-handed assault was an attempt to clear out protesters who have been camped out in front of the building for three weeks demanding the ruling military leave power. But the mayhem — which came despite promises from the army-appointed prime minister that no one would try to clear the protesters by force — threatened to spark a new round of violence after deadly clashes between youth revolutionaries and security forces in November that lasted for days and left more than 40 dead. Several women protesters cowered on the pavement as military police beat them with truncheons and long sticks. Another woman was seen bring dragged away by her hair by soldiers.

Plainclothes and uniformed security officers were seen throwing slabs of concrete and stones on protesters from atop the parliament building, according to state TV footage and videos and photos posted by protesters on social networking sites. Protesters threw fire bombs and rocks at the security officers, lighting a part of parliament on fire and chanting "Down with the military." "It's pretty ironic that the military is throwing rocks at protesters from the parliament building, where a sign is hanging that says democracy is the power of the people," protester Mostafa Sheshtawy said. Hours after sunset, the crowds of protesters had grown to hundreds and clashes continued, with youths hiding behind a makeshift barrier of metal sheets and an overturned car, throwing volleys of stones at military police lined up in the broad avenue in front of the parliament and Cabinet headquarters.

There were reports of live gunfire from the rooftops. One protester, Islam Mohammed, said a fellow protester pushed him aside and was hit by a bullet in the stomach. "He took a bullet instead of me and fell to the ground. I have his blood on my shirt and hands," Mohammed said. The condition of the wounded man was not known. Sahar Abdel-Mohsen, a youth activist, said she saw the bodies of two slain protesters brought to a Cairo hospital, both with gunshot wounds. "The blood is still dripping from the head of one of them," a 22-year-old man, she told The Associated Press, adding that she accompanied the bodies to the morgue. A Health Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of he was not authorized to talk to the press, confirmed one death, a man in his 20s who was shot in the head with live ammunition. The ministry, cited by the state news agency, said at least 99 people were injured, including broken bones and gunshot wounds.

The assault was likely to re-ignite the tensions between revolutionaries and the military, which took power after the Feb. 11 resignation of Hosni Mubarak. The youth activists who led the protests that ousted Mubarak accuse the military of acting in the same authoritarian way as the former president. One activist who won a parliament seat in the first round of elections on Nov. 28-29, said military police beat him with sticks on his torso and arms. "While beating me, an officer said, 'Don't imagine the parliament will protect you,'" the new MP, Ziad el-Oleimi, told the Associated Press. "So long as Egyptians are being humiliated and beaten on the streets, that means the revolution has not reached its goals. Taking to the streets will continue," el-Oleimi said. "The people elected us so that we don't get beaten in the streets. We will not accept this again."

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[waltky]

Iraq's 'Tremendous Diminution Of The Christian Population'...

Legacy of US Iraq’s Invasion : Near extinction of Christian population?
14 February 2012 - With the withdrawal of the US led forces from Iraq, Operation Iraqi freedom turns into Operation Iraqi Christians decimation.

Around fourteen months back, in November 2010, I had written about the pressures on the Christian minority community in Iraq and my fear about their extinction from their motherland in one of my piece, “Operation Iraqi freedom and Christians in Iraq” which was carried by number of news portals. ( Operation Iraqi Freedom and Christians in Iraq / http://twocircles.net/2010nov02/operation_iraqi_freedom_and_christians_i... and others) Some of the admirers of US regime, my friends in US and even some of the Muslim activists had disagreed with the analysis and had responded with their disagreement for different reasons. A good number disagreed because of their hate for Saddam and others for the exposure of the indifferent temperamental behavior of the some Muslims towards the religious minorities in Muslim society.

A month after the withdrawal of the Allied forces from Iraq and its becoming a sovereign state, one of the serving US Military Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio admitted in an interview to CNA in Rome, “Yes, you can say in a certain sense that the invasion of Iraq did provoke this tremendous diminution of the Christian population in that country. And what the future holds, that still remains to be seen,” Archbishop Timothy believes that the collapse of Iraq’s Christian population is among the legacies of America’s invasion in 2003 and he is absolutely correct. Before the invasion of Iraq, Christian population was around 1.4 million of the total population and the community had enjoyed all kinds of support and patronage during Saddam’s regime which dwindled to around one hundred forty thousand at the time of the withdrawal of the Allied forces. Did they just vanish? Its a million dollar question.

Secular Saddam Hussein had always trusted Christians and had appointed them to the highest government posts beside giving them freedom to profess their religion with dignity. Overwhelming majority of the world’s population had considered Tariq Aziz, a Christian and the international face of Saddam’s regime, who was also foreign minister, as a Muslim. Christians being considered staunch supporters of Saddam’s regime faced twin pressures with its downfall, the foremost being the coreligionists of the invading forces and for others as the former ally of tyrant Saddam Hussain. The Sunni Muslims of Iraq were nearly convinced and shocked to see the switch of the loyalty of the Christian community to the invading Allied forces and the Kurds & the Shia’s hate reached its zenith because of the community’s past alliance with Saddam. The irony of the whole scenario was that Saddam protected them where as the Allied forces under US command totally shied to extend a protective cordon for them. With the rising violence against the community the Christians were forced to live as displaced community in their own country and in other countries.

Source

 

[waltky]

Islamists have majority on Constitutional panel...

Egypt's Islamists tighten their grip on power
25 Mar.`12 (AP) — Egypt's newly empowered Islamists have tightened their grip, giving themselves a majority on a 100-member panel tasked with drafting a constitution that will define the shape of the government in the post-Hosni Mubarak era.

Led by the Muslim Brotherhood to victory in parliamentary elections, fundamentalists now have their eyes set on the next prize: the presidency. The new constitution will decide whether Islam will gain even more strength in Egypt, abandoning decades of secular traditions that made the nation a top U.S. ally and a bulwark against extremism. The charter also will determine whether the decades-old system of a powerful president will be maintained, or instead, an empowered parliament under Islamist domination will set the tone. "We don't want another pharaoh," said Yasser Burhami, a leader of the ultraconservative Salafi movement whose followers have won 25 percent of parliament's seats. "We want a political system that is half parliamentary and half presidential."

A list of names published Sunday by the country's official news agency showed that the panel will have nearly 60 Islamists, including 37 legislators selected the day before by parliament's two chambers. The second half of the panel comprises public figures, also selected by members of parliament. The strong Islamist showing follows their victory in parliamentary elections — a seismic shift for groups that were heavily repressed under Mubarak but have used the vast organizational skills gained over years of working underground to rise to the upper political echelons.

It also reinforced fears by secular and liberal Egyptians that the dominant parliamentary faction would pack the panel with supporters and ignore concerns of other groups, including the youth activists who spearheaded last year's uprising against Mubarak's authoritarian regime. "The Brotherhood's monopoly on setting the criteria for selecting the constitutional assembly leaves us skeptical of whatever promises they make," prominent rights activist Hafez Abu Saedah wrote on his Twitter account.

Just a handful of Christians and women were selected for the panel, reflecting the disproportionately low representation in parliament of both groups. There also were only a few names from the revolutionary movement that ousted the leader. One significant exception, however, was Ahmed Hararah, a young dentist who lost sight in one eye during the uprising and later lost his second eye in clashes that broke out between security forces and protesters calling for a faster transition to civilian rule in Cairo. He has become a symbol of the revolutionaries.

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