Brotherhood Rage
"The fire in the monastery burned intermittently for three days. The looting continued for a week. At the end, not a wire or an electric switch is left.
"Even the remains of ancient and revered saints were disturbed and thrown about.
"Everyone keeps telling me that I should alert the police and the army. As if I hadn't done that already."
Father Yoannis, Coptic Orthodox priest, Dalga, Egypt
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| In this Sept. 3, 2013 photo, Egyptian priest Samuel Zaki tours the ancient chapel inside the Virgin Mary and St. Abraam Monastery that was looted and burned by Islamists in Dalga, Minya province, Egypt. Dalga has been outside government control since hard-line supporters of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi drove out police and occupied their station on July 3, the day Egypt’s military chief removed the president in a popularly supported coup. It was part of a wave of attacks in the southern Minya province that targeted Christians, their homes and businesses. (AP Photo/El Shorouk Newspaper, Roger Anis) |
Dalga is a town of 120,000 inhabitants. Among them 20,000 Christians. Hardline Muslim Brotherhood supporters drove out the Egyptian police presence, occupying their station on July 3. That was the day that General al Sissi removed Mohammad Morsi from the presidency. The take-over of Dalga represents part of a wave of attacks in the southern Minya province targeting Christians, their businesses, their homes.
And, of course, their religious institutions, an affront against Islam. Father Yoannis was showing a reporter a round the charred skeleton of his ancient monastery. Torched by Islamists, looted and stripped of its ancient icons. The monastery's 1,600 year-old underground chapel has been transformed, rent of its ancient treasures. The ground around was dug up with the thought that treasure would be buried there.
The Egyptian army and police are fighting a militant Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula. They're integrally involved in attempting to restore peace and security to all of Egypt in the face of ongoing unrest, protests, violence by virulent supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamists have twice driven off army attempts to send in armoured personnel carriers -- met by Brotherhood gunfire forcing a retreat -- to try again another day.
There are fears being borne out by what is occurring in Dalga, 270 kilometres south of Cairo and Minya on the edge of the Nile Valley close by cliffs marking the start of the Egyptian desert that a second insurgency might be in the offing. Minya and Assiut provinces are both Islamist strongholds. And both, unfortunately for Egypt's Christians, represent the home of two of the country's largest Christian communities.
In the initial violent outburst in Dalga, the town's Catholic church was ransacked and set ablaze. Just exactly what happened to the Monastery of the Virgin Mary and St. Abraam. The town's Anglican church was looted as well. Since then, 40 Christian families have fled for haven elsewhere. Christian-owned homes and shops have been attacked by Islamists. Roaming bands of thieves from the nearby deserts joined in the looting and burning.
The province has seen n upsurge in Islamist violence where 35 churches have been attacked, nineteen of them gutted by fire. Six Christian schools and five orphanages have been destroyed. Destroyed too were five courthouses, seven police stations and six city council buildings. But the Muslim Brotherhood has denounced violence and seeks to make their case for reinstatement in government by peaceful means.
We know this, because they have said this to be true. All else is mere fabrication.
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| In this Sept. 3, 2013 photo, Egyptian Christian villagers clean up the damaged ancient chapel inside the Virgin Mary and St. Abraam Monastery that was looted and burned by Islamists, in Dalga, Minya province, Egypt. Dalga has been outside government control since hard-line supporters of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi drove out police and occupied their station on July 3, the day Egypt’s military chief removed the president in a popularly supported coup. It was part of a wave of attacks in the southern Minya province that targeted Christians, their homes and businesses. (AP Photo/El Shorouk Newspaper, Roger Anis) |
Labels: Christianity, Conflict, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, September 07, 2013
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