[ppi] [ppiindia] Egyptian Copts fearful after protest

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**http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3B27FE5A-72C1-4EA1-9BE2-7A37261EE5AE.htm

Egyptian Copts fearful after protest


Saturday 22 October 2005, 22:49 Makka Time, 19:49 GMT    
      Egyptian police clashed with protesters on Friday
     
 


Christians in the Egyptian city of Alexandria have stayed home and kept their 
shops shut, scared from going outside by violent protests outside a church, a 
local priest has said. 


Yohanna Naseef of St Mark's Catholic Orthodox Church in Alexandria said on 
Saturday that an annual meal attended by Christians and Muslims at his church 
had been cancelled after Friday's protests, in which three demonstrators died. 

 

The Interior Ministery said 5000 people protested outside St George's Coptic 
Church in Alexandria on Friday over a play once performed there that they said 
was insulting to Islam. 

 

Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, which had pelted them with stones 
and re-grouped several times throughout the day. 



Seven Christian-owned shops were attacked, Egypt's state news agency MENA 
reported. 

 

It was the second protest in a week over the play and came two days after a 
young man stabbed a nun and a man at the church. 

 

"The Christians have been at home since yesterday, they are afraid," Naseef 
told Reuters. 

 

Subject of play



The play, called I Was Blind But Now I Can See, had been staged more than two 
years ago by youths, he said. 

 

A recording of it had recently been posted on the internet by "extremists", 
Naseef said. 

 

      "Christians love their Muslim brothers" 

      Yohanna Naseef,
      Priest at St Mark's Catholic Orthodox Church
     

"The play was about extremism and against radicalism," he said.



It was based on a 1990s movie called The Terrorist, which starred Egyptian 
comedian Adel Imam. 

 

The film dealt with the subject of militant Islamists, who were waging an 
uprising against the government at the time. 

 

The protesters had been demanding an apology for the play. But Naseef said he 
saw no need to say sorry. 

 

"Christianity rejects insulting any religions," he said. "Christians love their 
Muslim brothers." 

 

Meal cancelled

 

St Mark's Church had cancelled its annual iftar meal on Saturday because of the 
protests, he said. Iftar is the Arabic name for breakfast eaten by Muslims at 
sundown during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. 

 

The Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, and 
Coptic Pope Shenouda III issued a joint statement expressing sadness for the 
clashes.

 

     
      Grand Sheikh Tantawi (above) and 
      Pope Shenouda III urged calm
     
They urged calm and called for resolving differences through dialogue.

 

Earlier on Saturday, Tantawi told MENA that people driven by personal interests 
were trying to "spread strife among the people of Egypt". 

 

He did not elaborate on their motives. 

 

"Their attempts will not succeed," he said. 

 

Christians make up 10% of Egypt's mainly Muslim population of 72 million 
people. 

 

Relations between the two communities are generally peaceful, but tensions 
sometimes flare. 

 

In 1999, 22 people were killed in sectarian strife in the southern village of 
Kosheh, but such incidents are rare and are usually sparked by local disputes.  


      Aljazeera + Agencies 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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