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Posted by
Olog-hai
on Sun Apr 7 13:42:40 2013, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.
fiogf49gjkf0d Egypt Independent
One reported dead at Abbasseya cathedralSun, 07/04/2013 (April 4) – 19:10
Heba AfifyAfter four Coptic Christians were killed in the Qalyubiya Governorate town of Khosous Friday, a funeral held for the victims at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasseya Sunday quickly turned into armed clashes after unknown assailants reportedly attacked attendees.
One person was reported dead at the nearby Demerdash hospital, according to head ambulance services, and 29 people were injured, satellite channel ONtv reported Sunday evening.
Clashes also erupted at the church in Khosous, and live ammunition was heard being fired from an unknown source, ONtv said late Sunday afternoon.
Amid chaos and panic at the Abbasseya cathedral, a pickup truck full of men drove into the cathedral’s back entrance, and a man on the truck said the assailants were “killing us,” an Egypt Independent reporter at the scene said. Men showed their cross tattoos to get into the cathedral from the back entrance to defend it, and a bystander shouted, “This is democracy,” suggesting democracy had resulted in attacks on Copts.
By 5 pm Sunday, the clashes in Abbasseya had renewed after a temporary halt, and Maspero Youth Union spokesperson Nader Shoukry told Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr that tear gas had been fired inside the cathedral there “without clear reason.” DPA news agency has reported that 25 people have been injured in the clashes.
Some mourners refused to leave the cathedral despite the heavy tear gas, which was fired from the cathedral’s main gate, Egypt Independent’s correspondent at the scene reported. Copts who were in the cathedral mourning the deaths of the Khosous clashes victims say they are afraid the cathedral would be attacked if they leave.
Large numbers of young Christians arrived at the cathedral to defend it. Only a small back door was open, guarded by Copts to ensure that the attackers stay out.
Copts present at the cathedral resented the failure of police to protect the cathedral, the most revered symbol of Christianity in Egypt. Police were only present at the main gate, firing tear gas, while the building was left vulnerable to attack.
One of the cathedral workers recounted that unknown assailants, whom she suspected were Islamists, started insulting and attacking the mourners as the funeral procession left the cathedral.
“We don’t have a place here [in Egypt] anymore; they want to drive us out,” she said, as she walked away from the cathedral with dirt marks on her black clothes.
Standing inside the cathedral with a can of Pepsi that she sprayed at her face to ease the burning of the tear gas, an elderly woman refused to leave.
“We won’t leave the cathedral for them. Our youths are arriving now to protect it,” she said.
Panic spread in the cathedral among mothers who were afraid their sons now at the front line may face the same fate of those they came to the cathedral to mourn.
Already feeling wounded by the Khosous incident, the attack on the funeral increased the feelings of oppression among the mourners.
“No religion accepts this. We have learned since we were kids that death has its respect,” said one mourner, Moheb, as he escaped through the back door of the cathedral.
Moheb recounted that as the procession left the cathedral, it was attacked from above neighboring buildings. The mourners then rushed back in the cathedral and its door was closed, he said.
Earlier in the day, independent Al-Tahrir newspaper reported that its photographer Emad al-Gebaly sustained birdshot injuries while covering the clashes at the cathedral.
DPA quoted witnesses as saying earlier that attackers pelted the funeral procession with stones before security fired tear gas in an attempt to control the situation. State-run Al-Ahram newspaper’s website also reported the tear gas, but security source told the newspaper that some mourners had set fire to parked cars nearby, sparking the unrest.
Meanwhile, Ramy Kamal, a member of the Maspero Youth Union, a coalition of Coptic activists, told DPA that following the funeral, some participants attempted to start a march from the cathedral to the Defense Ministry to submit a memo demanding more protection for Copts, but were surprised with unknown attackers shooting at them and throwing Molotov cocktails.
The clashes spilled onto surrounding streets as the funeral procession marched from the cathedral. A number of cars were smashed, and gunfire was also heard. Traffic heading both ways on Ramses Street ground to a halt.
Activists participating in the funeral unsuccessfully tried to calm the situation by asking mourners to go back inside the cathedral.
Most stores in the area closed their doors, as well as the gas station adjacent to the cathedral.
The initial clashes Friday broke out after a group of boys vandalized the wall of an Al-Azhar-affiliated building with graffiti. A confrontation that followed swiftly degenerated into armed clashes between groups of Muslims and Christians that continued until early Saturday morning, killing five people and injuring several others.
Attendees were earlier angrily chanting slogans against President Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood, including “down with the supreme guide’s rule,” reported satellite channel Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr.
Bishop Moussa, the youth bishop for the church, and Bishop Raphael, the secretary of the Holy Synod, performed the funeral mass for the four victims in the cathedral after Pope Tawadros II failed to attend, something which angered the families of the victims.
Bishop Raphael said in his sermon, “Not by bloodshed that the country will prosper, and not by the lack of security. A message to Copts: Stick to our faith, our ethics and our love, and we will not compromise on the ethics of the Gospel.”
Sectarian tensions have often flared into violence, particularly in rural areas, where rivalries between clans or families sometimes add to friction. Love affairs between Muslims and Christians and differences over the building of churches have also sparked clashed in the past.
Since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising, Christians have complained of several attacks on churches by radical Islamists, incidents that have sharpened longstanding Christian complaints about being sidelined in the workplace and in law.
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