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Three dead as 'anti-Islam' play triggers church riot
The Scotsman ^ | October 22, 2005

Posted on 10/22/2005 7:24:10 AM PDT by NYer

THREE people have died during a riot outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, after a protest against a play accused of offending Islam.

Police used sticks and tear gas to hold back a crowd of some 5000 protesters who marched on St George's church.

Dozens of people were injured in the crush. One man who died was trampled and had inhaled tear gas, police said.

On Wednesday, a Muslim man stabbed a nun in protest at the sale of a DVD of the play, staged at the church in 2003. The demonstration was the latest in a series of incidents at the church related to the performance of the play.

Entitled I Once Was Blind But Now I See, the drama tells the story of a poor young Copt who is drawn to Islamist militants who then try to kill him.

Coptic Christian leaders say the play depicts the dangers of extremism, not of Islam.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholic; christian; coptic; egypt; islam; militants; orthodox
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To: NYer
So, lemme get this straight:

The Mohammedans are offended that the play potrays Islam is violent.

So...how do the Mohammedans protest this? Naturally, with violence!

21 posted on 10/22/2005 7:43:49 AM PDT by B Knotts
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To: JudyinCanada
IIRC it was a case of robbery by someone known to the family. So, as the cracked logic of criminals goes, the family (mother, father and a couple of children)had to be killed to prevent the criminals from being turned over into the police. The story made news because the way the family was murdered (bound, throats cut) had similarity to killings by Islamists and the fact that the family were activist Copts and Copts have been threatened in Egypt and in the US. Not sure if the criminals meant it to look that way (like it murders were done by Islamists) or if it was just coincidence.
22 posted on 10/22/2005 7:50:52 AM PDT by Captain Rhino (If you will just abandon logic, these things will make a lot more sense!)
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To: JudyinCanada

I posted an article on this. Motive was robbery. Guy was caught on video using their ATM card. The killers were on parole for drug offenses....

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,149434,00.html


23 posted on 10/22/2005 7:52:29 AM PDT by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: NYer
When will 5000 Christians storm a mosque in protest of Islamic beheadings, car bombings, wife beating, stoning, Bible shredding, Islamic rapes, honor killings...
24 posted on 10/22/2005 7:56:30 AM PDT by Dallas59 (“You love life, while we love death.” - Al-Qaeda / Democratic Party)
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To: JudyinCanada; Kolokotronis
Was that not a family of Coptic Christians slaughtered by some "befriending" islamics?

Yes. I believe it was sometime in late Spring.

25 posted on 10/22/2005 7:57:53 AM PDT by NYer (“Socialism is the religion people get when they lose their religion")
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To: NYer

Islamic unholy quotes:

"Slay them wherever you find them...Idolatry is worse than carnage...Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme." (Surah 2:190-)

"Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it." (Surah 2:216)

"Seek out your enemies relentlessly." (Surah 4:103-)

"The Jews and Christians say: 'We are the children of God and His loved ones.' Say: 'Why then does He punish you for your sins?" (Surah 5:18)

"Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends." (Surah 5:51)

Gee, it it any wonder some sick f*** clerics can twist these into many demented interpretations.


26 posted on 10/22/2005 7:58:50 AM PDT by wkdaysoff (Visitors scored on the home rink. Waitress, I need two more boat drinks.)
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To: Dallas59
When will 5000 Christians storm a mosque in protest of Islamic beheadings, car bombings, wife beating, stoning, Bible shredding, Islamic rapes, honor killings...

Probably not until you take up the standard and lead the charge!

27 posted on 10/22/2005 8:00:53 AM PDT by NYer (“Socialism is the religion people get when they lose their religion")
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To: B Knotts
The Mohammedans are offended that the play potrays Islam is violent.

So...how do the Mohammedans protest this? Naturally, with violence!

And here's the twisted logic our Administration sees as a solution to the evil of Islam...

"give them the vote and democracy, and they'll behave like human beings."

28 posted on 10/22/2005 8:01:05 AM PDT by Dark Skies ("The sleeper must awaken!")
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To: PokeyJoe

I don't care if Islam is "reformed", there is no "reform Neonazism" so I don't hold out hope for "reform Islamonazism".

They can have their supremicist belief system. They CANNOT be permitted to kill those who dissent from THEIR beliefs.

Islam is intolerant. Its followers are at WAR with Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, and Jews.


29 posted on 10/22/2005 8:02:47 AM PDT by weegee (To understand the left is to rationalize how abortion can be a birthright.)
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To: NYer
"...after a protest against a play accused of offending Islam."

Offending Islam...what rot! Islam needs offending not political correctness! Not to tar and feather all Rag Heads, but most are a wheedling, whining lot that have no ambition and I dare say, being called to prayer five times a day to keep YOU in line, has something to do with the inability to conform to the 21st Century. Islam is a culture, not a religion and it is full of superstitions which are constantly rained down on Muslims – Christians, Jews and Buddhists etc. are not so stupid or intimidated.

30 posted on 10/22/2005 8:07:31 AM PDT by yoe
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To: JudyinCanada
Was that not a family of Coptic Christians slaughtered by some "befriending" islamics?

Jersey City,NJ a couple of years back. Father and Daughter were active in evangelizing to Muslims, pissed off a bunch of Muslims in Arabic on-line forums. The whole family was ritually slaughtered. No connection to Islam or terrorism was officially found

I think Defense Dept is missing a bet by not recruiting more Arabic-speaking Coptic Christian translators

31 posted on 10/22/2005 8:08:23 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (I BELIEVE CONGRESSMAN WELDON!)
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To: NYer

Christian Copts (who are the descendants of the indigenous people of Egypt prior to the Arab invasion of the 7th century) today make up only 3% -- max --- of Egypt's population. They almost always make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, realizing the contempt and hated which is cultivated against them by the Islamicists.

The fact that they put on this play is REALLY surprising and paradoxical. I'd sure like to read "the rest of the story."


32 posted on 10/22/2005 8:09:38 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (No tagline. I'm a coupla quarts short, wit-wise, this morning.)
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To: JudyinCanada

Robbery, not religion, behind family's killing
AP ^ | 3/5/5 | WAYNE PARRY

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1356505/posts
Posted on 03/05/2005 2:17:35 AM CST by SmithL


JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The upstairs tenant of an Egyptian Christian family found slain in their home in January and another man have been charged in the killings, and authorities said Friday the motive was robbery, not religious fanaticism.

Two men already on parole for drug offenses pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder in the Jan. 11 killing of the Armanious family, which had caused tension between Christians and Muslims in New Jersey.

Edward McDonald, 25, who rented a second-floor apartment above the Armanious family, and Hamilton Sanchez, 30, were ordered held on $10 million bail.

"I didn't kill nobody, man," Sanchez said as he was led from the courtroom. McDonald, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and black pants, stared at the floor during the hearing.

Authorities said Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their children, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were slain three days before their bodies, bound and gagged with puncture wounds to their heads and necks, were found Jan. 14.

In the days after the slayings, about $3,000 was withdrawn from Armanious' bank account using his ATM card, and investigators were able to get surveillance video from cameras over those cash machines, officials said.

Both men were arrested Thursday.

"I'd like to make one thing perfectly clear: The motive for these murders was robbery. This was a crime based on greed, the desperate need of money," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

DeFazio said officials believe a planned robbery spiraled out of control when the 8-year-old loosened her bonds and recognized McDonald. He is accused of killing her to avoid identification, and Sanchez is accused of killing the three others, DeFazio said.

The slaying had caused speculation that Hossam Armanious might have angered Muslims with opinions he posted in Internet chat rooms under the user name "I Love Jesus." The arrests were welcomed by Christian and Muslim groups who said they were disturbed by the religious tension.


33 posted on 10/22/2005 8:10:13 AM PDT by Valin (Vescere bracis meis.)
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To: Panic in the Streets
The Lefties would say they deserved it, becuase, in their minds, the worst offense ever is to offend a Muslim.

However, if some leftie "intellectual" produced a play containing all sorts of perversion and slander against Christians, and Christians (peaceably) protested, they'd be labeled as fundamentalist bigots incapable of appreciating artistic expression.
34 posted on 10/22/2005 8:10:50 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
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To: Mrs. Don-o

They've become more outspoken in recent years. There has been a trend toward the fish tattoos and bumperstickers in Egypt, which the Muslims have countered with a shark symbol.


35 posted on 10/22/2005 8:11:37 AM PDT by durasell
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To: PokeyJoe
You nailed it and just in case some of the readers of this thread don't have good eyesight, let me repeat this...

Islam is barbaric, backwards, and unholy. It is evil, vile, abhorrant

36 posted on 10/22/2005 8:14:40 AM PDT by CommandoFrank (Peer into the depths of hell and there you will find the face of Islam...)
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To: NYer
Just your typical anti-Copt pogrom. S.O.P. for the R.O.P..
37 posted on 10/22/2005 8:16:06 AM PDT by JAWs
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To: NYer

EGYPT: WEB VIDEO INCITES ATTACKS AGAINST CHRISTIANS


Cairo, 21 Oct. (AKI) - An anti-Christian demonstration by a thousand or so Muslims outside the Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt last week earned only a few lines in the Arab dailies and was largely overlooked by the Western media. But this religious flash-point did not escape the notice of the jihadi groups linked to al-Qaeda, in fact they have turned it into anti-Christian video-propaganda on the Internet. Footage of the demonstration at Muharram Bik, near Alexandria, has appeared on forums used by al-Qaeda linked groups, with an exhortation to follow this example and attack Christians."Oh Islam, we will defend you with our body and soul!; "Christians and Jews, the army of Mohammed will return": these were just two of the slogans shouted by the crowd who staged a rally outside the church in Muharram Bik, after unconfirmed rumours that it had hosted a theatre performance that offended the prophet Mohammed.

Video film of Wednesday's protest appeared on Friday on a forum much used by al-Qaeda aligned groups. The five-minute sequence follows various stages of the demonstration, which was prevented by riot police from getting near the church.

After this protest, a statement threatening the clerics of the church, signed "mujahadeen of Egypt", appeared on the Internet on 18 October. The Islamist group , which has also claimed responsiblity for the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings, incited Muslims to take action against Christians in revenge for the alleged offence against Mohammed. "After hearing this news, we had decided without hesitation to destroy that church," it said, noting that the "government dogs" - the police - had surrounded the place of worship to protect it.

However the group goes on to make further threats, adding: "Any Christian from that church who reads a sermon there will become one of the targets."

Someone was taking heed, as two days later the Al-Quds al-Arabi paper headlined: "Muslim student stabs nun in the church of Alexandria". On 19 October, a student brandishing a knife entered the church shouting anti-Christian slogans. The man, later identified as Ali al-Jani, wounded the nun and a person who intervened to protect her.

The Coptic Christian minority in Egypt is numerically the largest Christian community in the Arab world and percentage-wise, the second after Lebanon. Copts make up ten per cent of the Egyptian population and were present in the country prior to the arrival of Islam. Normally tranquil relations between Egypt's predominantly Muslim population and the Copts occasionally become tense, particularly over allegations of forced conversions.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.221749664&par=0


38 posted on 10/22/2005 8:16:44 AM PDT by penguino
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To: durasell
...which the Muslims have countered with a shark symbol.

Is that true? It is the perfect metaphor for Islam.

39 posted on 10/22/2005 8:17:07 AM PDT by Dark Skies ("The sleeper must awaken!")
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To: JudyinCanada

You said - Didn't this play out in real life in New Jersey a little while back?


No they actually caught the killers. Robbery.


40 posted on 10/22/2005 8:19:48 AM PDT by The Cuban
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