إهتمام الجرائد العالمية ووكالات الأنباء بإضطهاد الأقباط وإعتداء المسلمين عليهم فى مرسى مطروح

اليوم السابع كتبت رباب فتحى تاريخ نشر الخبر : 15/03/2010
أثارت الاحتقانات الطائفية الأخيرة بين المسلمين والمسيحيين بمرسى مطروح يوم الجمعة الماضى اهتمام الصحف العالمية، وقالت صحيفة لوس أنجلوس تايمز إن التوترات اشتعلت مجددا بين الأغلبية المسلمة والأقلية المسيحية، مما أسفر عن إصابة 24 شخصا، بينهم ضابطا شرطة، حسبما أكد مسئول أمن لمراسل الصحيفة.
وأوضحت الصحيفة أن سبب هذا الحادث كان سوء تفاهم حيث اعتقد المسلمون أن الأقباط أغلقوا شارع جانبى يمر بين مبنى تابع للكنيسة وبين أرض مقام حولها سور مملوكة لهم بغرض ضم الأرض إلى المبنى ببناء سور فى نهاية الشارع وتركيب بوابة حديدية عند أوله تمهيدا لتوسيع مساحة المبنى لإقامة كنيسة كبيرة بالمنطقة. ولكن الغرض الحقيقى كان بناء سور حول المركز القبطى للخدمات الطبية والاجتماعية.
ونقلت لوس أنجلوس تايمز عن مسئول، لم يكشف عن هويته قوله "حول 400 شخص تورطوا فى هذا النزاع، وألقى القبض على 20 شخصا مسلما ومسيحيا، بينما أصيب 24 شخصت". واستغرقت الشرطة العديد من الساعات لإعادة فرض النظام والهدوء إلى المكان، وأعلن رئيس وحدة أمن مطروح، حسين فكرى، عودة الهدوء إلى أرجاء المدينة أمس السبت.
وأضافت أن المحافظة الساحلية لم تكن يوما مكانا للاحتقانات الطائفية، فأغلب الصدمات العنيفة تحدث فى مدن وقرى الجنوب، التى يزيد فيها عدد المسيحيين عن عدد المسلمين، ويبلغ تعداد سكان مطروح 380 ألف شخص، بينهم سبعة آلاف قبطى.
ومن ناحية أخرى، انتقدت صحيفة كريستيان بوست، المعنية بأوضاع المسيحيين فى العالم، الحادث ووصفته بأنه استمرار لسلسلة التوترات بين المسلمين والمسيحيين، وقالت إن هذه الواقعة تزامنت مع إصدار اللجنة الأمريكية للحرية الدينية الدولية بيانا تدين من خلاله النظام القضائى المصرى لعدم ملاحقة مرتكبى العنف ضد الأقباط.
وانتقدت كريستيان بوست قيام قاضى مصرى بتبرئة ساحة أربعة مسلمين قتلوا قبطيا، وهو ما وصفته اللجنة الأمريكية بـ"بآخر مثال على تنامى أنماط الأحداث التى لا يعاقب مرتكبوها على فعلها بعدما يرتكبون أعمالا عنيفة ضد المسيحيين وممتلكاتهم".
وذكرت الصحيفة أن مصر وضعت على "قائمة المراقبة" الخاصة باللجنة الأمريكية منذ عام 2002، وذلك بسبب رواج انتهاكات الحرية الجسيمة.

Christian-Muslim clashes leave 24 injured in Egypt
  تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010 (AFP)
CAIRO — Twenty-four people were injured in clashes between Christians and Muslims in northern Egypt, a security official said on Saturday.
Twenty people, both Coptic Christians and Muslim, were also arrested in Friday's troubles, the official said.
Fighting broke out in the northwestern province of Mersa Matrouh when Muslim residents began to hurl stones at Christian construction workers they thought were building a church.
The Christians said they were building a wall for a hospice, not a church, the official said.
"Around 400 people were involved in the fighting. Twenty people were arrested, both Muslims and Christians, and 24 were injured," the official said.
"A heavy security presence was deployed to the town and remained overnight to make sure there are no more clashes," he said.
The Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, make up between six and 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people but complain of frequent discrimination and harassment.
In the worst sectarian attack in years, six Copts and one Muslim policeman were killed when gunmen raked worshippers emerging from a Christmas Eve service in the southern town of Nagaa Hammadi in January.
Three people are on trial over the attack.
Copts are considered equal to Muslims under the Egyptian constitution but must gain presidential permission to build churches and clearance from a governor to renovate them.
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Muslim Mob Attacks Christians At Church In Egypt, 25 Injured
Egypt (AINA) تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010

-- At 17:00 hours on Friday a Muslim mob attacked a Christian congregation during prayers in the church attached to the services building of the Coptic Church in the Rifeyah area of the Mediterranean seaport of Mersa Matrouh. The mob, estimated to be between 2000-3000 of Bedouins and fanatical Muslim Salafis, hurled stones at the building. Four priests, the deacons and 400 parishioners were trapped inside the building.
Rev. Matta Zakarya told activist Wagih Yacoub of Katiba-Tibeyah, an advocacy group, that after the mob hurled stones at the building, they went inside and assaulted the people, mostly families. Neither the security forces nor the fire brigades were sufficient. Only two fire brigades were available. Witnesses said the number of security forces was not enough to contain the Muslims, and tear gas was used against them.
The attack in casualties among the Copts and security forces, mostly head injuries caused by hurled bricks. The injured were treated at Matrouh Hospital. According to Rev. Matta, twenty-five persons were seriously wounded, including women and children. Eighteen houses, twenty-two shops and sixteen cars were destroyed and burnt down. "Twenty-eight people have no homes and had to seek refuge in the services building," said Rev. Matta.
Security forces enforcement from Alexandria arrived in the early hours of Saturday, and escorted the 400 Copts held in the services building to their homes.
The pretext used by the Muslims for this attack was the erection, without permission, of a wall surrounding the plot of land acquired by the Church adjacent to the services building. "The violence started after the Muslim evening prayer," said Rev. Matta Zakaria to Coptic News Bulletin, "when the Mosque's Imam, Shaikh Khamees, talked of the need to fight the 'enemies', and said 'we don't want Christians to live among us.'"
The mob moved on to other areas not protected by security, vandalizing and torching Coptic homes, shops, businesses and cars in the streets surrounding the services building. "They were chanting religious and Jihadi slogans, during which they vandalized and burnt houses and shops, amid the cries of the terrorized Copts," reported Nader Shukry of Freecopts.
Copts whose relatives were held inside the services building, gathered in front of the State Security in Matrouh to protest the attacks on them and the delay in the arrival of the security forces to protect them.
Rev. Matta said that a meeting is to be held in the morning of March 13, between the Church, the State Security and the Muslim elders in the area, "Because the Copts are frightened, especially the women and children who were indoors as the Muslims torched their homes and who are now extremely traumatized. Everyone needs re-assurance that such an attack will never happen again."
The services building, called Archangel Michael Charity, which serves 300 Coptic families, was demolished (AINA 4-30-2009) by security forces on April 26, 2009, under the pretext of questioning the ownership of land, but the matter was later clarified and a license for the construction of a replacement services building was obtained from the Governor of Matrouh.
By Mary Abdelmassih
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Crowd of 3 thousand Muslims attack a Coptic Christian community, 25 injured
Faithful were gathered in prayer when attack occurred. There were four priests, one deacon and 400 parishioners in the building, women and children also targeted. Fundamentalists fury, egged on by the imam, unleashed by the rumour that the Christians are building a new church. In reality it is a hospice.

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010

– The toll from an attack on the Coptic Christian community that took place yesterday in the north-western province of Mersa Matrouh, Egypt is 25 wounded, including women and children. A crowd of around 3 thousand Muslims attacked the faithful gathered in prayer in a building adjoining the local church. The fundamentalists fury, encouraged by the imam, was sparked by the rumour that the Christians have begun to build a new place of worship.
Around 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the Muslims - a group of Bedouins and Salafi fanatics - started throwing stones at a construction site, which they believe in reality will be a new church. Local witnesses reported that security forces present were not sufficient to contain the attack. The police fired tear gas and arrested a dozen people, including Muslims and Christians. Only this morning, reinforcements arrived from Alexandria, thanks to which the Coptic faithful trapped inside the building could return to their homes.
At the moment of the attack the Christian prayer house contained four priests, one deacon and about 400 parishioners. Christians say that the building under construction, in fact, is a nursing home and said they were "terrified" by the latest attack. The local imam Shaikh Khamees intervention during Friday prayers has helped to foment the anger of Muslims. He emphasized the duty to fight against the "enemies" of Islam and stressed that "we do not tolerate the Christian presence in our area."
Reverend Matta Zakarya confirms that this morning there was a summit between the leaders of the local church, state security forces and even some Muslims. "The Coptic are scared - he stresses - especially women and children who were inside the building and witnessed the assault."
In Egypt, the Coptic Christian community is about 10% of the population in a country with an overwhelming Muslim majority, which discriminates against the Christian community. It is the victim of violence, caused by a sharp rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Sometimes the basis of many attacks there are disputes over land ownership and disputes for women, but they soon become sectarian clashes.

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Bishop: 23 Christians wounded in Egypt
CAIRO - تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010

— An Egyptian bishop says 23 Coptic Christians have been wounded when extremist Muslims attacked a church community center in a western province.
The Rev. Bejemy told The Associated Press Saturday that a group of young men pelted cars and threw firebombs at the Coptic center and nearby homes in Marsa-Matruh.
Bejemy says Friday's rampage followed a sermon by a radical sheik and lasted about 10 hours before security forces brought the situation under control.
Egyptian officials say the rioters were angry about a new fence built around the center.
Christians, mostly Orthodox Copts, account for about 10 percent of Egypt's predominantly Muslim population. They generally live in peace with Muslims although clashes and tensions occasionally occur.

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Muslim Attack Injures 23 Coptic Christians
By Ethan Cole|Christian Post Reporter تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010
Twenty-three Coptic Christians were injured by Muslim extremists Friday after an attack on a church community center, said an Egyptian Bishop.
The attack occurred after a sermon by a radical sheikh and lasted 10 hours before security forces put a stop to it, said Bishop Bejemy to The Associated Press on Saturday. The group of young Muslim men threw firebombs at the Coptic center and at nearby homes in Marsa Matruh, a seaport city in northern Egypt.
According to Egyptian officials, assailants were angry about a new fence erected around the center.
The attack on Copts in Marsa Matruh took place the same day the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a statement condemning the Egyptian justice system for not prosecuting violence against Copts.
An Egyptian judge recently acquitted four Muslim men of the murder of a Coptic man. USCIRF called it “the latest example in a growing pattern of instances where individuals have not been brought to justice after committing violent acts against Christians and their property.”
Coptic Christian Farouk Attallah was murdered on Oct. 19, 2009. Attallah’s Christian son was involved in a romantic relationship with a Muslim girl. The Muslim men planned to murder the son, but when they could not find him they killed his father. Despite reported witnesses, the court said there was insufficient evidence and acquitted the men.
“This is one of more than a dozen incidents USCIRF has followed in the last year or so in which Coptic Christians have been the targets of violence,” said USCIRF Chair Leonard Leo, who led a USCIRF fact-finding delegation to Egypt in January. “This upsurge in violence and the failure to prosecute those responsible fosters a growing climate of impunity."
“We call on the government to appeal the verdict in the Attallah murder and bring the perpetrators to justice,” Leo said.
Since 2002, Egypt has been on the USCIRF “Watch List” for its serious religious freedom violations, including widespread problems of discrimination, intolerance, and other human rights violations against members of religious minorities.
According to Egypt’s constitution, Islam is the “religion of the state” and the country’s “principle source of legislation.”
Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, complain that they are discriminated against in all aspects of social life, from education to government representation. They also voice grievance over the law that requires them to have high-level government permission in order to repair or rebuild churches. Even though they make such requests for permission, Christians are rarely, if ever, granted the right to repair or build churches. Muslims, however, are allowed to freely build mosques without such government permission.
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At least 27 arrested in Egypt Christian-Muslim clash
(Reuters) - تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010

 At least 27 people were arrested in northern Egypt Friday after fighting erupted between Muslims and Christians over land, security sources said on Saturday.
World
At least 24 people were hurt in the fighting in Marsa Matrouh governorate, including women and children, security sources said.
The dispute broke out after Coptic Christian villagers built a fence around land next to a church-run building, the state news agency MENA reported.
Hussein Fekry, head of security at the governorate, said Muslim residents of the village objected to the fence which blocked a main road.
"Security was able to control fires that erupted in three homes and two cars," state governor Ahmed Hussein told Egyptian television.
The Marsa Matrouh governor asked the priest of El Shahedeen church to remove the fence MENA said.
Relations between Egypt's Muslims and Christians, mainly Copts, are usually calm but can become strained and sometimes erupt into violence over issues such as inter-faith relationships and land.
Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's roughly 78 million people. The rest are mostly Sunni Muslim.
(Reporting by Ahmed Shalaby and Mahmoud Sadek; Writing by Shaimaa Fayed; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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EGYPT: 24 injured in Muslim-Christian clashes in coastal city
Egypt-mersha  تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010
Tensions are heating up again between Egypt's Muslim majority and embattled Christian minority.
Twenty-four people, including two security officers, were injured during clashes between Muslims and Copts in the northern governorate of Matrouh on Friday, a security official confirmed Saturday.
Violence erupted in the city of Marsa Matrouh, 330 miles northwest of Cairo, when extremist Muslims pelted stones at cars and workers building a fence around a Coptic center for medical and social services.
Matrouh security officials say the angry Muslims thought the fence was being constructed to allow the center to take over an additional piece of nearby land to build a new church.
"Around 400 people were involved in the fighting. Twenty people were arrested, both Muslims and Christians, and 24 were injured," one official said.
It took several hours before security forces reimposed order. The head of Matrouh security, Gen. Hussein Fekri, announced Saturday that the city is back to its normal calm.
The coastal governorate is an unlikely location for clashes. Most violent confrontations between Muslims and Copts take place in southern towns and cities, where numbers of Copts are nearly similar or more than their Muslim counterparts.
Matrouh has an estimated population of 380,000 with only 7,000 of its inhabitants being Copts.
The incident comes nearly two months after the whole of Egypt was rocked by the shooting of six Copts and one Muslim outside a church in Nagaa Hammadi, 420 miles south of Cairo, on the eve of the Coptic Christmas.
Egypt's Christians, mostly Copts, form 10% of the country's population. They are the largest non-Muslim community in the Middle East and have long complained of religious, social and political discrimination.
-- Amro Hassan in Cairo
Photo: Police stand guard behind a car that was damaged in clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean coastal town of Marsa Matrouh. Credit: EPA
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Muslims attack Coptic Christians in northern Egypt
By SARAH EL DEEB (AP) تاريخ نشر الخبر : 13/03/2010
CAIRO — Muslims attacked a community center and burned several homes belonging to Coptic Christians in northwestern Egypt over the weekend, injuring 23 people, in a rampage that a local bishop said was incited by a radical Muslim preacher.
The rioting began Friday when a group of young men hurled rocks at the church community center in Marsa-Matruh, a city along Egypt's Mediterranean coast. The attacks then spread to nearby homes and left behind destroyed cars and other property.
Copts, who make up most of the 8 million Christians in a country of 80 million people, generally live in peace with Muslims but violence occasionally occurs. Human rights groups say attacks on Copts are on the rise, underscoring the government's failure to address chronic sectarian strains in a society where religious radicalism is gaining ground.
Hussein Fekry, the local security chief, told Egyptian TV on Saturday that the clashes were limited and were provoked by a new fence built around the community center.
The church's local bishop, Father Bejemy, said, however, that the rioters were responding to a Friday prayer sermon at a nearby mosque calling for jihad against infidels, a reference to non-Muslims among extremists.
The bishop said the attackers broke the community center's gate, several windows and destroyed trees. Later, they lobbed firebombs at Christian homes and destroyed cars, he said. A group of Copts took refuge in the community center and were holed up there for 10 hours while security forces brought the situation under control.
Of the 23 Copts wounded, three remained hospitalized in critical condition Saturday, Bejemy said.
"If the fence is the real problem, I agreed to remove it. I just hope it is the real problem," Bejemy said in a telephone interview from Marsa-Matruh. "I am not sure if this violence is only because of one fanatic who didn't act wisely or if the situation is bigger than this. Only days will tell."
Twenty Muslims and Christians were arrested on suspicion of taking part in the disturbance, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Nader Shokry, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which tracks religious violence, said residents of the area also said the Muslim cleric's sermon was inflammatory and probably in response to prayers held in the community center.