Egyptian military accused over deaths
EGYPT’S COPTIC church yesterday severely criticised the country’s authorities for failing to prevent violence that left 26 dead and 329 injured during a protest on Sunday night. Copts stoned police and chanted slogans against the military as Coptic pope Shenouda III presided over funerals of slain Christians in Cairo’s cathedral.
The protest, prompted by the torching of a church in southern Egypt last week, erupted into the worst violence since the uprising began on January 25th. Three days of mourning were declared.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which assumed executive power on the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February, blamed “unknown” provocateurs and called for an investigation. Forty-five suspects have been arrested and suspects will be tried before military courts.
Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian initiative for personal rights called for an independent inquiry because of army involvement in the clashes. Egyptian prime minister Essam Sharaf warned of a “despicable conspiracy against Egypt”, pitting Muslims against Christians and the people against the armed forces.
Many Egyptians, commenting online and in the media, argued that the conspiracy is being mounted against the revolution by the SCAF which had announced it would step down in six months but intends to stay in power through to the end of 2013 after a new parliament and president are elected and a constitution adopted.
Egypt State TV Admits to Making Up News That Christians Killed Soldiers
Egypt State TV has admitted to making up news as Coptic Christians protested Sunday. The false report stated that Christians had attacked and killed military personnel trying to keep order; however, those reports have proved to be false. The falsified reports are now thought to have directly attributed to the violent outbreaks and brutal crackdown by military officials and Muslim hardliners against protesting Christians.
Egyptian State TV has now come under attack from rights activists for the false reports, which stated that there had been deaths among military forces during the early scuffles of the protest caused by protesting Copts, according to Egyptian publication Bikyamasr.
The lies stated that Coptic protesters attacked the military forces with weapons and had caused the death of three soldiers. Read more on Global Christian Post
Egypt to Investigate Deadly Riots
Egypt’s military government will carry out an investigation into riots involving Coptic Christians over the weekend that left at least 26 people dead.
Security forces are accused of using unnecessary force to crush a demonstration by Copts in Cairo on Sunday, leading to the worst violence the country has seen since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in February.
Eyewitnesses say that police opened fire on protesters and TV footage shows scenes of armored vehicles running over members of the crowd. Some 26 people were killed in the violence and almost 500 injured, The Associated Press reported.
The Copts, who make up around 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million, gathered in what began as a peaceful march to protest the ruling military’s apparent tolerance of a string of anti-Christian attacks. Read more on The Epoch Times
Egypt Christians vent fury after clashes kill 25
Egypt’s Coptic Christians turned their fury against the army on Monday after at least 25 people were killed when troops broke up a protest, deepening public doubts about the military’s ability to steer the country peacefully towards democracy.
In the worst violence since Hosni Mubarak was ousted, armoured vehicles sped into a crowd late on Sunday to crack down on a protest near Cairo’s state television.
Online videos showed mangled bodies. Activists said some people were crushed by wheels.
Tension between Muslims and minority Coptic Christians has simmered for years but has worsened since the anti-Mubarak revolt, which gave freer rein to Salafist and other strict Islamist groups that the former president had repressed.
But much of the anger from Sunday’s violence targeted the army, accused by politicians from all sides of aggravating social tensions through a clumsy response to street violence and not giving a clear timetable for handing power to civilians.
Late on Monday, thousands marched from Cairo’s main cathedral to the Coptic hospital where most of the wounded were treated, calling for religious unity and the removal of the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
"Why didn’t they do this with the Salafists or the Muslim Brotherhood when they organise protests? This is not my country any more," Alfred Younan, a Copt, said near the hospital.
Church leaders called for three days of fasting "for peace to return to Egypt." Read more on Reuters
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