Peanut Gallery: Please click on the links scattered throughout this article. They will give you a quick overview of what’s taking place in Egypt today.
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Funeral Attacked at Egypt’s Biggest Church as Religious Violence Kills Six Copts
(UPDATED) President Morsi to Pope Tawadros: ‘I consider any aggression against the cathedral an aggression against me personally.’
Melissa Steffan
Update (April 8): CT’s Cairo correspondent offers a thorough roundup at Arab West Report.
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A riot during a funeral for four Coptic Christians has ignited sectarian tensions in Cairo once again. A clash that killed four Christians in a northern suburb simmered over into the funeral at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the capital city, killing two people and injuring at least 90.
The weekend, which left six people dead in three days, marks the worst violence against Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, since the election of President Mohamed Morsi late last year.
The Associated Press reports that “the clashes at the St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral began just after hundreds of angry Christians left the complex to stage an anti-government march following the funeral for the four Christians killed in sectarian clashes Saturday.”
The scores of Muslim rioters who attacked funeral goers “[pelted] the mourners with stones … flash-bang grenades, tear gas, fire bombs, and other improvised weapons [and] set cars ablaze,” according to Morning Star News.
Following the fighting at St. Mark’s, Morsi condemned the attacks and ordered an investigation of the violence, promising protection for both Muslims and Christians.
CT previously has reported on Egypt and violence against Coptic Christians there, including a dispatch from Cairo on how Egyptian Christians were feeling on the first anniversary of their nation’s revolution. Egypt’s Copts are facing the future under an Islamist regime, including a hastily completed constitution that limits some previously guaranteed personal freedoms. Most recently, CT reported on the possible rise of Coptic evangelism in Libya and Sudan.
In addition, CT reported on the death of Pope Shenouda, the former leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and also on the election of Pope Tawadros last year.
posted by Melissa Steffan
The Peanut Gallery 