20,000 Muslims Attack a Church in Cairo!!!

[Flintlock]

20,000 Muslims Attack a Church in Cairo
Posted GMT 11-26-2008 9:57:4

One thousand Christians were today trapped inside the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in West Ain Shams,Cairo, after more than twenty thousand Muslims attacked them with stones and butane gas cylinders. The Church's priest Father Antonious said that the situation is extremely dangerous.

The Muslim mob that attacked the church blocked both sides of the street and encircled the church building, broke its doors and demolished its entire first floor. The mob were chanting Jihad verses as well as slogans saying "we will demolish the church" and "We sacrifice our blood and souls, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Islam", while the entrapped Christians chanted "Lord have mercy".

The incident started on the occasion of the inauguration of the Church today, when the Muslims hastily established a Mosque in the early hours of this morning, by taking over the first floor of a newly-built building facing the Church and started praying there.

When the security forces tried to disperse the mob, they went to nearby homes and shops owned by Christians, and were armed with sticks, butane, knives and other sharp objects. Witnesses said the mob included children from as young as 8-years old to men of over 50-years old, in addition to women.

The Church building was originally a factory that was adapted into its present state, the matter which took over five years to complete and to get the necessary permissions from the authorities to have a Church established.

Human rights organizations and lawyers were refused entry into the besieged Church.

20,000 Muslims Attack a Church in Cairo

 

[Keysersoze]

Sounds like nonsense....Where is the news media in all this? no pictures or video. 20000 people equals a riot...no one misses that.

 

[Flintlock]

Sounds like nonsense....Where is the news media in all this? no pictures or video. 20000 people equals a riot...no one misses that.

It does seem pretty unbelievable....

 

[Flintlock]

Cairo (AINA) -- Thousands of Muslims stormed a church in Ain Shams, Cairo, on Sunday and set fire to the building. The Muslims were enraged by an extension that was added to the church of St. Mary and Anba Abraam (AINA 11-26-2008)

The following videos show the mob storming the church, chanting "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest).

Video Shows Muslims Storming Church in Egypt

 

[Keysersoze]

It does seem pretty unbelievable....

Well time will tell...if we hear about it within the next 24 hours then maybe there is some substance otherwise i am guessing that it is probably someone hitting the zero key a few too many times.

 

[Flintlock]

Thousands of Muslims attack Coptic church in Cairo

On the day of the inauguration of a church in the suburbs of the Egyptian capital, Islamic demonstrators have attacked the building, forcing about 800 faithful to barricade themselves inside the church.

Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Several thousand Muslims have attacked the Coptic church of the Virgin Mary in West Ain Shams, in the suburbs of Cairo. 800 faithful attending the first liturgy remained barricaded inside the church.

The demonstrators attacked the building on the day of its inauguration, November 23. The strife began in the early hours of the morning when a group of Muslims took possession of the first floor of a building in front of the church, turning it into a place of prayer. At about five o'clock in the afternoon, other demonstrators blocked the road on both sides, and began the attack. The building was originally a factory, but has been modified as a place of worship for the Orthodox Coptic community, after a bureaucratic process that lasted five years.

It is the latest of many acts of violence against Christians. The Copts are the main religious minority living in Egypt, and represent 15% of the population, out of a total of 80 million inhabitants. Over the last 30 years, it is estimated that about 4,000 Christians have been killed or injured in attacks. In 2008, there have been dozens of events similar to the one that happened to the community in the suburb of Cairo.

Interviewed by AsiaNews, Fr. Milad Sidky Zakhary, director of the Catholic Institute of religious studies in Cairo, explains: "The problem is that legal authorization is not given easily to Christians to build churches. It often happens that communities are groups are forced to meet in homes or private buildings in order to fulfill the Sunday precept. If anyone discovers them, they do not report it to the authorities, but directly attack the faithful."

According to Voice of the Copts, A Coptic Christian association based in Italy and the United States, about 10,000 demonstrators attacked the church. Other local sources say that there were 20,000, and report that, when the police came, the crowd moved on to the businesses and property owned by Christians in the neighborhood, waving clubs and chanting incitements to jihad. According to reports, two cars were burned, and five people were injured, in addition to the damage to the newly consecrated church.

Witnesses say that there were also women and children among the demonstrators. Video taken at the moment of the attack on the church has been published on the website of the agency Assyrian International.

ISLAM - EGYPT Thousands of Muslims attack Coptic church in Cairo - Asia News

 

[Flintlock]

Another news story:

Christians, Muslims Clash When Copts Open Church Opposite Mosque

 

[Keysersoze]

Cairo (AINA) -- Thousands of Muslims stormed a church in Ain Shams, Cairo, on Sunday and set fire to the building. The Muslims were enraged by an extension that was added to the church of St. Mary and Anba Abraam (AINA 11-26-2008)

The following videos show the mob storming the church, chanting "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest).

Video Shows Muslims Storming Church in Egypt

Errr dude don't see stuff being thrown there.......Or places burning.........or even any "storming" or even 20000 people. looks like your a-typical protest.

 

[Flintlock]

Errr dude don't see stuff being thrown there.......Or places burning.........or even any "storming" or even 20000 people. looks like your a-typical protest.

Click on the link the videos are there...

 

[Flintlock]

Coptic pope bars prayers in Cairo hall after clashes

3 days ago

CAIRO (AFP) — Coptic Pope Shenuda III has banned Egyptian Christians from praying in a church-owned building in Cairo after sectarian clashes there with Muslims, state news agency MENA reported on Tuesday.

Police arrested at least eight men after Muslims on Sunday night clashed with Copts in the Cairo neighbourhood of Ein Shams in protest at the building's use as a Christian prayer hall, throwing stones and burning two cars.

Pope Shenuda III "has ordered a cessation to prayers in the building belonging to the Church of Virgin Mary... after confrontations between the worshippers and some of the neighbourhood's residents in front of the building," the agency quoted him as saying.

The building was a disused factory that the church had bought.

Copts complain of an antiquated law, inherited from when Egypt was under Ottoman rule, that obliges them to secure presidential permission before building a church or expanding an existing church.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has delegated such decisions to provincial governors, but human rights groups say that sectarian problems will persist until the state passes a single law for both Muslim and Christian places of worship.

Egypt's Copts -- the largest Christian community in the Middle East -- account for an estimated six to 10 percent of the country's 80 million inhabitants.

AFP: Coptic pope bars prayers in Cairo hall after clashes

 

[Keysersoze]

Click on the link the videos are there...

I did.....like i said lots of chanting and some nice drum solos. but no stuff being thrown or buildings being burnt. looks like maybe 200 people and i saw riot police.

 

[Flintlock]

The first report has added an extra zero - it seems about 2000-3000 not 20000

 

[Flintlock]

EGYPT: THOUSANDS PROTEST, VANDALIZE CHURCH

At least five hurt as rioters stone, burn structure after inauguration of extension.

ISTANBUL, November 26 (Compass Direct News) – Thousands of Muslim protestors on Sunday (Nov. 23) attacked a Coptic church in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, burning part of it, a nearby shop and two cars and leaving five people injured. Objecting to a newly constructed extension to the church of St. Mary and Anba Abraam in Ain Shams, the huge crowd of angry protestors gathered outside the church at around 5 p.m. following a consecration service for the addition earlier that day. Chanting, “We will demolish the church,” “Islam is the solution” and “No God but Allah,” rioters pelted the church with stones and burned part of the structure; priests and worshipers were trapped inside, and five people were injured. “It was a terrifying moment,” said lawyer Nabil Gobrayel, who was inside the church at the time. “They were shouting ‘holy slogans’ like, ‘We will bring the church down,’ ‘The priest is dead’ and ‘The army of Muhammad is coming.’”

Compass Direct News : EGYPT - THOUSANDS PROTEST, VANDALIZE CHURCH

 

[Awesome]

I didn't understand why it happened?

The Muslims were praying in another building, why were they dispersed? And why did the Muslims then take it out on the Christians?

Is it just me or are the news media not making any more sense nowadays with their half reports.

 

[Flintlock]

about 10,000 demonstrators attacked the church. Other local sources say that there were 20,000, and report that, when the police came, the crowd moved on to the businesses and property owned by Christians in the neighborhood, waving clubs and chanting incitements to jihad.

ISLAM - EGYPT Thousands of Muslims attack Coptic church in Cairo - Asia News