Thread: Muslim Brotherhood: 'Friday of Anger'

Muslim Brotherhood: 'Friday of Anger'



580 dead; violence condemned

Egypt's government defended its actions amid wide condemnation, insisting troops fired in self-defense and weren't responsible for many of the deaths. FULL STORY

• U.S. cancels Egypt military exercises
• Christian churches stormed, torched
• Opinion: Egypt looking like Iraq
• Egypt mosque becomes morgue

Egypt: Friday of 'anger' or restraint?

by Rappler.com
Posted on 08/16/2013 7:30 AM | Updated 08/16/2013 7:58 AM

BURNING STREETS. A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi gestures during clashes with police in Cairo on August 14, 2013, as security forces backed by bulldozers moved in on two huge pro-Morsi protest camps, launching a long-threatened crackdown that left dozens dead. Photo by AFP / Mosaab el-Shamy

UNITED NATIONS - The Argentine president of the UN Security Council urged all parties in the crisis in Egypt to exercise "maximum restraint" Thursday, August 15, following an emergency meeting in New York.

Argentine Ambassador Maria Cristina Perceval said that the Council's 15 member states had "deplored the loss" of life in Cairo and called for an end to the violence and to advance "national reconciliation."

In Cairo, Islamists called for a "Friday of anger" after a crackdown on protesters that killed nearly 600 people nationwide, as Washington scrapped a joint military exercise in response.

"Anti-coup rallies tomorrow will depart from all mosques of Cairo and head towards Ramsis square after (traditional Friday) prayer in 'Friday of Anger'," Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad wrote on his Twitter account.

The call raised fears of fresh violence after the death toll from nationwide clashes following Wednesday's operation to clear two camps of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi rose to 578, making it Egypt's bloodiest day in decades.

There were renewed attacks on security forces during a tense day on Thursday, with at least 7 soldiers and a policeman killed in the Sinai peninsula and another police officer killed in the central city of Assuit.

With the country under a state of emergency and many provinces hit by night-time curfews, the interior ministry ordered police to use live fire if government buildings came under attack.

Cancellation of exercises
International criticism of the bloodshed poured in and the United Nations Security Council launched emergency consultations on the crisis at the request of France, Britain and Australia.

President Barack Obama led the international outrage at the bloody crackdown, announcing the cancellation of a joint US-Egyptian military exercise.

"While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back," he said.

But despite scrapping the Bright Star exercise, which has been scheduled every two years since 1981, he stopped short of suspending Washington's annual $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt.

Meanwhile, the US State Department warned citizens not to travel to Egypt and called on those already there to leave. -
Rappler.com

http://www.rappler.com/world/36550-egypt-un-security-council

'Horrible': Christian churches throughout Egypt stormed, torched

By Sarah Sirgany and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
updated 8:24 PM EDT, Thu August 15, 2013


Copt's churches looted and torched

Kafr Hakim,

Egypt (CNN) -- For 67 years, the Virgin Mary Church has been a peaceful refuge for Shenouda El Sayeh, much like the Giza province village of Hafr Hakim where it rests and where he has lived all those years.

But, as he swept its floors on Thursday, it was painfully obvious things had changed.

The night before, a mob -- chanting against Coptic Christians such as El Sayeh and calling for Egypt to become an "Islamic state" -- had torched and looted the Virgin Mary Church.

"I didn't expect this to happen," El Sayeh said.
Emam mosque becomes temporary morgue
He's not alone. Christians all around Egypt are cleaning up in the aftermath of a spate of attacks, which not coincidentally came on the county's deadliest day since the 2011 revolution that overthrew longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Bishop Angaelos, the Cairo-born head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, said he was told by colleagues in Egypt that 52 churches were attacked in a 24-hour span that started Wednesday, as well as numerous Christians' homes and businesses.

Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told CNN he had confirmed attacks on at least 30 churches so far, in addition to the targeting of church-related facilities, including schools and cultural centers.
Those churches reportedly set ablaze Wednesday included St. George Church in Sohag, a city south of Cairo on the Nile River.

And the new day brought new attacks. Prince Tadros Church in Fayoum, which is southwest of Cairo, was stormed and burned Thursday night, according to the official Middle East News Agency.

This and other attacks have been blamed by some on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group once led by more recently deposed President Mohamed Morsy. They, too, have reportedly been caught up in the violence:

Egypt's health ministry says that at least 525 people were killed and more than 3,700 injured amidst clashes involving security forces and Morsy supporters.
What group, if any, is behind the church attacks, and how coordinated this violence has been might not been be sorted out definitely for some time.
Until then, Christians in Egypt are left to try to put things back together, as well as to try to make sense of what's transpired.

As Dalia Ziada of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies told CNN:

"This is horrible to happen in only one day."

'A very dangerous game to play'

Egypt will have much to deal if, and when, things do settle down. Should that happen, Angaelos says that a proper investigation of the church attacks should be part of that -- especially since, he feels, the sheer scale of incidents suggests they were orchestrated, rather than a byproduct of chaotic unrest.

"We would want the people who have done it to be brought to justice because I think they are trying to do something which is much more dangerous," he said.
"It's not just about burning churches, it's about burning churches to initiate a response that then spirals into even greater violence -- and that is a very, very dangerous game to play."

The targeting of churches and Christian properties was not unexpected, Angaelos said, given the tensions in Cairo and elsewhere and in light of escalating attacks on Coptic Christians in recent weeks.

The growing threat led him last week to issue a statement warning of "a very real risk upon the life of every Christian." Pope Tawadros II, the church's leader in Egypt, also suspended weekly public events for fear of attacks on Christian congregations.

But the warnings didn't prevent the violence, nor did security efforts to protect churches and Christian communities, according to Ibrahim.

Said Angaelos, "The ferocity and the speed with which it all happened... was quite surprising."

Burning of books

A Bible Society of Egypt statement posted online Wednesday reported the "complete burning and destruction" of its bookshops in the cities of Assiut and Minia, in southern Egypt.

"Fortunately we were closed today, fearing such an attack, so none of our staff were injured," said the statement by Ramez Atallah, the society's general director. "The attackers demolished the metal doors protecting the bookshops, broke the store windows behind them and set the bookshops on fire."

Other stores and parked cars on those streets were also destroyed, he wrote.
"It is important to underline that -- while some Christian properties have been the victim of this violence -- they are by no means the only ones targeted," Atallah said.

"This is an attack against the state by a violent minority in an attempt to destabilize the nation."

CNN iReporter Amir Beshay, from Cairo, helped draw up a list of Christian churches and properties reportedly targeted.

On it are sites in Alexandria, Arish, Assiut, Beni Suef, Cairo, Fayoum, Gharbiya, Giza, Minya, Qena, Sohag and Suez. They include churches and schools, as well as homes and businesses belonging to Coptic Christians. CNN has not been able independently to verify the reports.

Asked about the attacks on churches Wednesday, U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States was deeply concerned. "We will continue speaking out against this and continue talking to all parties and all sides about renouncing this violence, about moving forward with a democratic process."

Daniel Sinclair, director of communications at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said the group was "deeply concerned at the unwarranted and continuing targeting of the Coptic community. We urge the government to ensure comprehensive security to all Egyptians, regardless of their religion."

Long history in Egypt

Egypt's Christian minority has been the target of a number of attacks in recent years. The bombing of a major church in Alexandria in January 2011 killed 21 people and sparked worldwide condemnation.

The situation has only gotten worse since Egypt's popular revolution overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, said Angaelos.

"In the past two-and-a-half years, we've had more deaths of people just because they are Christians than in the last 20 years," he said, adding that this had not triggered violent retaliation.

He hopes for forgiveness and reconciliation among all Egyptians going forward, to help build a unified country.

Christians have been in Egypt since the 1st century and were, for centuries, the majority. Some 90% of Coptic Christians still live in the country, he said, making up the largest Christian community in the Middle East.

Angaelos puts the proportion of Christians in Egypt at 15 to 20% of the population.

The CIA World Factbook says 10% of Egypt's population is Christian, while the Pew Research Center, which says firm numbers are hard to come by, puts the figure at about 5%.

The Coptic church also has adherents in Europe, Canada, the United States, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.

Father Boktor Saad, of Kafr Hakim's Virgin Mary Church, said he believes that a small group of extremists were responsible for inciting groups to attack his church.

But not everyone participated, and some non-Christians prevented the situation in that village from getting worse, church staff. They credited moderate Muslims with putting out the fire at Virgin Mary, and further halting attacks on Coptic Christians' homes and shops.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1