Friday, March 15, 2013
We need courage to rebuild Church –Pope Francis
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Mystery of Muslim woman's disappearance leaves Kom Ombo in crisis
Mystery of Muslim woman's disappearance leaves Kom Ombo in crisis
Al Ahram
Mystery of Muslim woman's disappearance leaves Kom Ombo in crisis (Photo: Al-Ahram)
A rumour has spread in the Upper Egyptian city of Kom Ombo that a
divorced Muslim woman in her mid-30s was kidnapped by the Coptic Church
and converted to Christianity. In an area divided by tribal and
religious allegiances, the story has fuelled violence against the area's
Christian minority.
The city's largest church, the Church of Mar
Girgis, has been under attack for the past three days by what residents
describe as "unknown assailants." Mostly in their teens, hundreds of
young boys and men have been surrounding the church and pelting it with
rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Central Security Forces (CSF) and
soldiers have used teargas to repel the assailants, but Molotov
cocktails and rocks have landed on the roof of the church and in its
central courtyard.
A field hospital was set up in a corner of the
courtyard, while many of the injured sat inside the church resting.
Others prayed. One young man in the church had burns on his arms and
back, which he said he had suffered from a Molotov cocktail thrown at
the church.
"The missing woman is not in this church as you can
see … Her family never claimed she was," the church's Father Abanob
Wahid told Ahram Online.
"Influential Muslim figures, as well as
imams in mosques, have been urging people to calm down, assuring them
the woman is not in the church … Some have even visited the church and
looked around to assure people, but the violence continues," he added.
Christians attacked
The
violence is not only limited to the church. Seventeen-year-old Copt
Abanob, whose arm was covered with medical bandages, said he was
attacked by a young man also in his teens who had first asked him
whether or not he was Christian.
"'Yes, I'm a Christian! What's
your problem?' I exclaimed before he and his friend followed me. He took
out a pocketknife and aimed at my face but cut my arm instead, which I
quickly raised to cover my face in an attempt to protect myself," Abanob
told Ahram Online.
Not far from the scene of the clashes is the
home of the missing woman, to which Ahram Online headed to meet the
woman's brother at the local mandara, a space for social events, located
near their house. The planned meeting never materialised, however, as a
crowd — very similar to that surrounding the church — intervened.
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