Posted on 12/08/2004 6:30:44 PM PST by nickcarraway
SEVERAL thousand Christians took over the compound of the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Egypt's capital today, hurling stones at riot police in a protest over a woman who was allegedly forced to convert to Islam.
The stones injured at least 30 people, including 21 police. Some policemen were seen wiping blood from their heads in the streets outside the compound in the city's Abbasiya district.
Police sealed off the compound, parking 40 trucks around its walls, and closed adjacent roads.
Protests began at the cathedral on Sunday as word spread that the wife of a Coptic priest in Abou al-Matameer, a town 135km north of Cairo, had been forced by her civil service boss, a Muslim, to convert.
A security official has said the 47-year-old woman, Wafaa Constantine, was found living in a Muslim household in Cairo and had become a Muslim of her own free will.
Some Copts, as Egypt's Christians are known, said Constantine had been kidnapped and taken to Cairo with the complicity of local authorities.
The facts of the case are not clear, but have highlighted the potential for friction between Egypt's Muslim majority and Christian minority. The Copts account for an estimated 10 per cent of the population of 70 million.
Last night a brother-in-law of Constantine entered the compound and told the protesters through a loudspeaker that the woman had returned home.
"My brothers and sisters, my brother just told me that she arrived in a safe place and she is in good condition," Meshiha Maawad said.
The protesters clapped and whistled, but refused to leave. They demanded that Pope Shenouda III, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, speak to them. The Pope has offices in the compound.
An assistant to the Pope, Bishop Yoanas, told the crowd that the Pope had left the compound because he was "upset" that the authorities delayed Constantine's return.
Some protesters said that they would not leave the until they saw Constantine herself. But, as the night wore on, many did leave.
Among the injured was Matyas Abdel Maseh, a young priest with a bandage around his head. Leaning against a wall for support, he said he was hit by a stone thrown by the police as he tried to stop the demonstrators from getting too close to the compound's gates.
"The Government is attacking Christians," he said. "The army outside the gates is attacking us with stones."
The protesters got the "stones" by chipping pieces of masonry from steps and other pavings in the compound.
Accusations of forced conversion surface every year in Egypt.
The editor of the Coptic newspaper Watani, Youssef Sidhom, accused the government and local authorities of being reluctant to investigate and prosecute cases of forced conversion.
Go Christians! I'll bet the police couldn't believe that the Christians didn't roll over for them!
So was Wafaa Constantine really kidnapped or not? is this a common occurance???
Yeah...that's about as believable as a three-dollar bill.
Sad. The woman in the photo looks as though she's looking to the world for help.
The Coptic Christians in Egypt are under a constant state of persecution. It's a miracle that any of them are left.
prayers for all involved
Yes, it really did happen and occurs quite often, makes my blood boil.
here is some more info:
http://www.copts.net/detail.asp?id=599
If this was done to the wives of an Iman in an non-muslim country, heads would roll. Why do we put up with the double standard?
Prayers for those brave people.
Thanks for the link. I had no idea this was going on. I'll have to do more research on the Copts later.
Because Egypt is our ally in the war on terror and would not take kindly to criticism of their culture.
All I can think of.
Thanks, please keep the Coptic people in your prayers.
Several years ago we lived next door to Coptic Christians, the husband was from Cairo, the wife from Alexandria.
They stated that Coptic Christians were the "real and original" Egyptians and that the "others who live in Egypt are all Arabs, not Egyptians." The couple seemed to convey a sense that they were of a higher class and better ethnicity than "other Egyptians."
Still they were very gracious to all local Americans. They also had friends visit from Egypt and sometimes their visiting friends were dressed in Muslim garb.
Thanks for posting this.
Ally my..........rear. They love no one but themselves, and their own families are afraid of each other.
About time the Christians fought back! Turn the other cheek is a good way to live....but when it gets you killed, that serves neither God nor the world. I hope the Copts hit a few muslimes with those rocks!
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