Muslim-Christian clash in Egypt leaves 13 dead

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/22694/Default.aspx

One of the various misrepresentations regarding the Egyptian revolution was that the participation of some of Egypt’s Christians meant that there was no underlying Islamic agenda.

Many media outlets went out of their way to paint a picture of Muslims and Christians standing arm-in-arm in search of freedom. And in some isolated examples, that may have been an accurate portrayal.

But with the increasing influence of and attention on Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood in post-Mubarak Egypt, Christians are starting to feel the heat, as evidenced by a brutal clash between Muslims and Christians in Cairo on Tuesday that left 13 people dead and more than 140 wounded.

The armed confrontation was preceded by Muslims burning down a church in the Helwan neighborhood of Cairo last week. To rub salt in that wound, the Muslims returned to the burned-out church on Tuesday to conduct mass Islamic prayers on the site.

Coptic Christian spokesmen told reporters that as arguments between the Muslims and the Christians who gathered to oppose them escalated, Muslim gunmen opened fire, killing six Christians and resulting in a pitched street battle.

A Coptic priest told France’s AFP news agency that Tuesday’s battle was not the only trouble of late for Cairo’s Christians. After the burning down of the church in question last week, more than 1,000 Christians had publicly demonstrated at the weekend to demand protection and equality. They were fired on by Muslims.

The priest revealed that Muslims in the area have been regularly firebombing Christian homes and workplaces and throwing stones at Christians who try to publicly demonstrate for their rights.

Egypt’s new military rulers have taken to action to date against the offending Muslims.

During the 18-day revolution that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, while many news outlets were showing Christians and Muslims as a united front, a large number of Christians were actually being slaughtered by Muslims taking advantage of the general chaos in Egypt.

In one particularly gruesome incident, Muslims in southern Egypt massacred two entire families, including young children, for the crime of being Christian. In total, 24 Egyptian Christians were murdered in January.

A number of Christian sources also indicated that their community had in no way been fully behind the revolution, since many knew full well that it would eventually be taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood. While Egypt under Mubarak was anything but ideal, a new Islamic Republic can only mean a life of severity as second-class citizens for Egypt’s Christians.

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/09/muslim-christian-clashes-cairo

Muslim-Christian clashes in Cairo leave 11 dead

Violence breaks out in Egyptian capital during protest against burning of church

Clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, have left 11 people dead and more than 90 wounded.

The clashes broke out on Tuesday night as thousands of Christians protested against the burning of a Cairo church last week. The church was set on fire after tensions escalated over a love affair between a Muslim and a Christian that set off a violent feud between the couple's families.

Security and hospital officials said six Christians and five Muslims died from gunshot wounds and 94 people – 73 Muslims and 21 Christians – were wounded.

Christian protesters blocked a highway, burning tyres and pelting cars with rocks. The two sides fought pitched battles for about four hours.

The 18-day uprising that toppled the president, Hosni Mubarak, on 11 February has left a security vacuum. Police pulled out of Cairo and several other cities three days into the uprising and have yet to fully take back the streets.

Mubarak handed power to the military when he stepped down, but it does not have enough troops to police every street in Cairo.

On New Year's Day, a suicide bombing outside a Coptic church in the port city of Alexandria killed 21 people, setting off days of protests. An off-duty policeman boarded a train on 11 January and shot dead a 71-year-old Christian man, wounding his wife and four others.

Egypt's ruling generals pledged last week to rebuild the burned church. The country's new prime minister, Essam Sharaf, has met Christian protesters in central Cairo to reassure them they would not face discrimination from his interim government.

However, at least 2,000 Christians joined the protest on Tuesday and a separate crowd of several hundred has been camping out outside the TV building for days to voice their anger at what they perceive to be official discrimination against them.