DAVID ADAMS reports on Australian reactions to the latest anti-Christian violence in Egypt…
The National Council of Churches in Australia has joined with an international chorus of voices expressing concern over anti-Christian violence in Egypt.
Two people were killed and more than 90 injured when an angry mob reportedly attacked Christian mourners outside St Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo on Sunday. The Christians were burying four Copts who were killed in sectarian violence on 6th April in Khosous, about 15 kilometres north of Cairo. A Muslim was also killed in the gun battle.
“Even though the Coptic Christians represent less than 10 per cent of the (Egyptian) population, they have the same rights as people of other faiths to practice their religious beliefs in safety.”– Rev Tara Curlewis, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia
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“The safety of Coptic Christians is of increasing concern,” said Rev Tara Curlewis, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia.
Noting that the latest attacks had taken place inside the St Mark’s Cathedral complex – which also contains the papal residence of Coptic Pope Tawadros II – Rev Curlewis said the attacks struck at people “when they are most vulnerable and at the place where they should feel safest”. “Attacking the cathedral complex is actually attacking the church and all is stands for.”
Rev Curlewis said Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi – who was reported as saying he considered any attack on the cathedral as an attack against himself – has a responsibility to “protect all citizens of Egypt”.
“Even though the Coptic Christians represent less than 10 per cent of the (Egyptian) population, they have the same rights as people of other faiths to practice their religious beliefs in safety.”
The attacks were also condemned by the Australian Christian Lobby with chief of staff Lyle Shelton saying the Coptic community in Australia saw the event as a “symbolic attack on Christianity on Egypt which is incomprehensible”.
Urging the Australian Government to denounce the attacks, Mr Shelton said minority groups should not be subjected to fear of expressing their faith.
“Sadly violence against Copts has escalated since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power…” he said. “This is simply another incident in a long line of suffering for these people by attackers deliberately targeting them for their faith.”
BosNewsLife reports that officials in Egypt said Saturday’s violence was triggered by young Muslims who drew upside down crosses on an Islamic institute, but there have been varying accounts among residents about what exactly caused the clashes.
On Sunday, tensions rose again with witnesses saying that fighting escalated out of a street brawl when Coptic activists tried to stop traffic to stage an anti-government march.
A mob, described by witnesses as residents of the area, pelted them with rocks and firebombs and fired birdshot, forcing them back inside the complex.
News reports sad that by the time police arrived in larger numbers, the church itself had become the scene of violence, between Christians barricaded inside and the mob outside, with the two sides exchanging rocks and firebombs.
Police reportedly fired tear gas, and gas canisters landing inside church grounds caused a panic among women and children.
People outside the church cheered. Some firebombs thrown from near the church landed at a nearby gas station, while witnesses said some in the church lobbed firebombs at the crowd outside.
Health Ministry official Khaled el-Khateib said that the identity of the second fatality was not immediately known while the first death was described as a Christian man.
Christians say there have been a growing number of often deadly attacks in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of Mubarak gave more freedom to hardline Islamists who were repressed under his rule. |
The deadly violence over the weekend has marked a new low as Egypt struggles for stability following the 2011 ousting of President Hosni Mubarak.
Christians say there have been a growing number of often deadly attacks in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of Mubarak gave more freedom to hardline Islamists who were repressed under his rule.
Egypt’s minority Christian community, which makes up some 10 percent of the population, has accused the government of failing in its duty to protect them following them.
The president’s Muslim Brotherhood group also said it was angry about the sectarian violence.
“Security authorities should take all measures to resolve the problem and religious figures should intervene to end the tension,” Freedom and Justice Party chairman Saad el-Katatni said in a statement to media.
The US embassy in Egypt said in a statement on Monday that it welcomed Morsi’s promise to conduct a full and transparent investigation and conveyed condolences to the victims of the violence.
“It is the responsibility of the state to protect all of its citizens,” the statement said.
– with BosNewsLife
