3 Dead in Egypt Clashes Over Anti-Islam Church Play
- From: "Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 08:06:03 -0400
3 Dead in Egypt Clashes Over Anti-Islam Church Play
Additional Reporting by Hamdy Al-Husseini, IOL Correspondent
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, October 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - At
least three people have been killed and around 60 injured in violent clashes
Friday, October 21, between Muslim protestors and police in Alexandria amid
mounting tensions in the Egyptian Mediterranean city over the DVD release of
an anti-Islam play produced by the Mar Girgis Church.
One of the victims, Mohammad Zakariya, died of his injuries in hospital,
while two others died shortly after midnight after police fired tear gas
canisters and rubber bullets on thousands of Muslims demonstrating against
the play, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The play, a digital copy of which was seen by IslamOnline.net, is performed
by amateur actors and tells the story of a young Christian who reverted to
Islam and is exhorted by a sheikh to kill priests and destroy churches.
Abused and maltreated by the sheikh and his group, the young man eventually
abandons Islam. The play further mocks at the bases of the Muslim faith.
After police broke up an earlier demonstration that had gathered about 5,000
people, Muslim demonstrators regrouped outside the church in the evening
after the Tarawih prayers.
The violence intensified and spread after the first wounded protestor died,
witnesses said.
Twenty policemen and sixty protestors were wounded, an interior ministry
spokesman told AFP.
At least one police car and six other vehicles were burned in the clashes.
Fifty-three protestors had been arrested, according to the interior
ministry.
Apology
Protesters at Awlad Al-Sheikh mosque, adjacent to the church, told IOL
Friday that only an apology and punishing those responsible would head off a
deadly sectarian strife.
They lambasted a statement issued by the Council of Orthodox Copts in
Alexandria, saying it came to justify the play instead of condemning it.
During similar protests on Friday, October 14, angry Muslim demonstrators
gave Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, Egypt's top Coptic cleric, one week to
apologize and defrock the church's priests.
The Council of Orthodox Copts in Alexandria said the church made sure that
the play was performed without incident two years ago inside the church's
premises for just one day with the aim of fighting terrorism.
It said the issue was intentionally raised to pit the Egyptians against one
another, claiming that Christians in Egypt were the subject of media irony
but they did not react recklessly.
Shawki Mina, a retired general, told IOL at the Mar Girgis church that the
play is like other works of art featured on the state television, which
denounce the evil ideology of the terrorists.
He claimed that scenes that insult Prophet Muhammad were added to the
circulated DVD and were not part of the original play, saying the man
responsible has been detained by the feared State Security Police.
However, Shawki declined to give IOL a CD of the play's original version,
arguing that police imposed a ban on the circulation of these CDs.
Bishop Salib Sawayres said Pope Shenouda pays due attention to the current
tensions and had ordered the church to punish those behind the play.
"The pope said that the play mishandled the terror phenomenon and the church
should have not engaged itself in the matter," he told IOL.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-10/22/article01.shtml
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Lynch-mob justice (was Re: 3 Dead in Egypt Clashes Over Anti-Islam Church Play )
- From: Phillip Williams
- Lynch-mob justice (was Re: 3 Dead in Egypt Clashes Over Anti-Islam Church Play )
- Prev by Date: First international congress on Islamic feminism
- Next by Date: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/portfolio/0,12-0@2-3208,31-702492,0.html
- Previous by thread: First international congress on Islamic feminism
- Next by thread: Lynch-mob justice (was Re: 3 Dead in Egypt Clashes Over Anti-Islam Church Play )
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
