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Muslim Brotherhood kill Egyptian Christians and burn over 50 churches

BY DEACON NICK DONNELLY, ON AUGUST 15TH, 2013


The Main Stream Media are ignoring the ethnic cleansing being carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood against Coptic Christians across Egypt since the massacres by the military, including killing Christians and burning over 50 churches. Here’s the breaking news not being reported by the BBC and other media outlets:
‘Burning of Virgin Mary Monastery in Deir Mawas, Minya, Bishop Tadros Monastery in Fayoum and Sohag Diocese’s services building. Brotherhood supporters continue to demolish and burn Atfih Diocese in Giza [Greater Cairo], a large number of churches in Minya [Upper Egypt], Fayoum, Assiut, Suez, Arish [Sinai], Luxor [south Egypt], the Bible Society headquarters in Cairo, and the Franciscan school in Suez.’
Here’s a summary of the arson attacks and violence committed by the Muslim Brotherhood against Christians:
Sohag Diocese Cathedral burnt and destroyed
Sohag (Egypt), 14 August /MCN/ by Nader ShukriA number of Islamists broke into the St. George Diocese in Sohag and set fire to the church. Fire trucks arrived too late, after the fire had consumed the building.
H.G. Bishop Bakhoum stated that MB supporters had stormed the church, setting fire to the services building and looting all its contents, in addition to assaulting the priests who were inside.
Speaking to MCN, eyewitnesses said police forces and firefighters arrived late at the scene, while a number of MB supporters hijacked a fire truck to prevent it from putting the flames.
Vehicles transporting armed MB groups were seen by eyewitnesses, as they threatened to attack Copts and unarmed citizens on the streets.
Several other governorates in Upper Egypt have witnessed attacks on Copts and churches, after security forces broke up Brotherhood sit-ins at Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares. In Fayoum, the Friends of the Bible Association headquarters was burned, while MB supporters opened fire on a nuns’ school in Beni Suef, and Archangel Michael’s Church in Assiut was besieged. Meanwhile, several villages in Minya have also witnessed attacks targeting Copts’ houses and churches.
Two churches attacked in Assiut and Wasta, army protects Two Saints Church in Alexandria
Egypt, 14 August /MCN/ by Nader Shukri
The Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist current supporters assaulted the Archangel Michael Church in Assiut [Upper Egypt], on Wednesday, as well as properties of citizens and Christians in the area.
Security was able to gain control of the situation in the two streets, Namees and Gomhuriya, after clashes with MB supporters around the governorate’s central building.
In Wasta City, Beni Suef [Upper Egypt], Father Angelos Maqar, priest of St. George Church in the village, reported, “Militants hurled stones at the church, breaking its windows.”
In Alexandria, “Troops secured the church and closed the streets leading to it in case of any violence,” said Joseph Malak, lawyer for the families of Two Saint Church bombing victims.
“At the same time, Christian youth went out to several areas to protect the churches, including the church of Maximous and Damadious in Street 45, Sidi Beshr.”
He added there are now violent clashes between security forces and Islamists at al-Qa’ed Ibrahim Mosque.
Churches in Egypt had canceled morning masses, especially in the provinces of Minya, Assiut and Fayoum, and closed their doors in anticipation of any violence that would target the congregations.
It is worth mentioning that Brotherhood supporters have been rioting throughout Egyptian governorates since security forces broke up the sit-in at Rabaa el-Adaweya Square in Nasr City, Cairo. The sit-in was dismantled at 6.00 am on Wednesday morning.
Attacks are focused on police stations, churches and Christian homes, particularly in the Upper Egypt governorates, such as Minya. Islamists broke into Virgin Mary and St. Abraam Monastery in Delga village. They set fire to three churches and six services buildings, and marched in the village chanting against the Copts, surrounding their homes and assaulting them with stones, as security was completely absent.
The crowd also set fire to a church services building of St. Mina the Wondrous Church in the south of the province, and attacked the Evangelical Baptist church in Beni Mazar.
The Islamists also besieged churches in Samalout and Mallawi, and set fire to two churches in the Fayoum governorate [southwest of Cairo] and attacked Coptic homes and burned churches in Suez.
Greek Church and two Coptic schools in Suez burned
Suez (Egypt), 14 August /MCN/ by Nader Shukri
A number of Muslim Brotherhood and Gamaat Islamiyya extremists burned down the ancient Greek Church on Paradise Street in the Suez governorate, in addition to a monastery and a school. They also set fire to the Franciscan school on el-Geish Street.
Governorates throughout Egypt have witnessed attacks on Copts and churches, after security forces broke up Brotherhood sit-ins at Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares. In Fayoum, the Friends of the Bible Association headquarters was burned, while MB supporters opened fire on a nuns’ school in Beni Suef, and Archangel Michael’s Church in Assiut was besieged. Meanwhile, several villages in Minya have also witnessed attacks targeting Copts’ houses and churches.
Islamists storm St. Mary and St. Abraam Monastery in Upper Egypt, burn three churches and six buildings inside
Minya (Egypt), 14 Augut /MCN/
Islamists attacked St. Mary and St. Abraam Monastery in Delga village, Minya [Upper Egypt]. The crowd stormed the monastery and set fire to three churches and six services buildings inside.
Supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi have been rioting throughout Egyptian governorates since security forces broke up the sit-in at Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares. The sit-in was dismantled at 6.00 am on Wednesday morning.
Attacks are focused on police stations, churches and Christian homes, particularly in the Upper Egypt governorates, such as Minya.
The crowd also set fire to a church services building of St. Mina the Wondrous Church in the south of the province, and attacked the Evangelical Baptist church in Beni Mazar. Islamists also besieged churches in the cities of Samalout and Mallawi.
Father Selwanes Lotfi, priest of St. Mary and St. Abraam Church told MCN, “The Islamists set fire on the monastery, which includes three churches. They stormed the monastery, setting areas on fire as they went, including the historical St. Mary Church, St. George Church and St. Antony Church.”
Witnesses said the house of Fr. Angelous, also a priest of the church, was burnt. They blamed the absence of security forces for the current deteriorating situation witnessed in the village, and noted that a state of panic dominates the Copts of the village due to the siege imposed on their houses by the Islamists.
Christians of the area called on security authorities to intervene and prevent a potential massacre.
Islamists marched to St. Mary Church in Deir Mawas, chanting against Copts and H.H. Pope Tawadros II. They assaulted the church with stones, breaking glass and windows of the building, and attacked a Coptic-owned shop.
A witness told MCN that the march was organized to protest the breakup of the Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares demonstrations. They attacked all that was owned by Copts.
Security forces prevented an attempt to storm the village of Beni Ahmed and attack its Coptic residents, exchanging fire with Islamists. The Coptic residents of the villages of Rida, Beni Mazar and Maghagha faced consecutive attacks from Morsi supporters, who opened fire indiscriminately on Christian homes.
Islamists threw Molotov cocktails at the Evangelical church in Abu Helal, south Minya, burning the church and its services building.
A witness said that masked people on motorcycles used automatic weapons and birdshot on St. Mina’s Orthodox Church, and then threw Molotov cocktails at the Evangelical church.
Pastor Samir Sadek, head of Minya’s Evangelical Synod, told MCN that a number of extremists attacked the church. He rebuked the absence of the security forces, praising the role performed by the residents who exerted their efforts to contain the fire. He signaled that the fire trucks failed to reach to the church due to the narrow street.
The crowd also set fire to a tourist ferry owned by the Coptic Evangelical Authority and another owned by Coptic businessman Samuel Thabet Zaki.
Muslim Brotherhood supporters surround Virgin Mary Church in Qena
Qena (Egypt), 14 August /MCN/
A number of Brotherhood supporters surrounded the Virgin Mary Church in West Qena [southern Egypt], locking worshipers inside the church. This attack is one of the organized violent measures taken by the MB and Islamic movements, which have increased significantly after security forces broke up the sit-ins at Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares.
Speaking to MCN, H.G. Bishop Kyrillos, Nag Hammadi’s bishop, said he learned of MB gatherings headed to Abu Tesht, which is about 35 kilometers from Nag Hammadi, to attack the local diocese.
He added he had contacted security forces to protect Copts’ places of worship and their properties.
“Dozens of MB supporters and Gamaat Islamiyya surrounded the Virgin Mary’s Church in Qena,” explained a security source to MCN, pointing out that church officials had to close its doors for fear of being attacked by extremists.
The city of Qena has witnessed widespread riots by Islamists, while police forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators who attempted to storm the Qena governorate office, while other Islamist groups surrounded the court building in Qena, which was evacuated of its employees.
Islamists demolish and burn Coptic diocese in Atfih amid security’s absence
Giza (Egypt), 14 August /MCN/ by Nader Shukri
Islamists looted, demolished and burned Atfih Coptic Diocese in the Giza governorate [Greater Cairo], during a lack of full security forces.
Hundreds besieged the diocese, setting fire to the building, looting its contents and have now begun to destroy the remaining structure.
The Copts were able to smuggle Fr. Makorious, priest of the diocese’s church, during the attack.
The Church called upon the military to intervene and protect the Copts and diocese in Atfih. Violence in the city is quickly escalating as news spread of the death of an Atfih Islamist during the military’s break-up of the Brotherhood sit-in in Rabaa el-Adaweya Square in Cairo, this morning.
Protect the Pope comment: It is clear that the Muslim Brotherhood is using the massacre of its members by the Egyptian military as an excuse to accelerate its ethnic cleansing against Egypt’s Christians. The MSM are turning a blind eye to this crime against humanity, and their silence makes them complicit with the killing of Christians and the burning of churches. The BBC must report these outrages being carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood instead of portraying them as victims of military attacks. The situation on the ground is much more complex then the BBC and others are reporting.

SOURCE | http://protectthepope.com/?p=7968
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Why Does the Muslim Brotherhood Attack Churches?

Jonathan S. Tobin | 08.14.2013

The world is focusing much of its sympathy today on the members of the Muslim Brotherhood that were gunned down in the streets of Cairo by armed police and soldiers seeking to end the Islamist attempt to put Mohamed Morsi back into power. The violence is regrettable and the casualties are widely interpreted as evidence of the brutality of the military regime that toppled Morsi and his Brotherhood regime last month. But the notion that the Brotherhood is the innocent victim of a nasty junta seeking to bring back Mubarak-era authoritarianism is only half right. Though the military government is an unsavory partner for the United States, no one should be under any illusions about the Brotherhood or why the majority of Egyptians (who went to the streets in their millions to support a coup) probably approve of the military’s actions.

Proof of the true nature of the Brotherhood was available for those who read accounts in the last weeks of life at their Cairo encampments that were policed by Islamist thugs with clubs and other weapons. Brotherhood gunmen fought the police in pitched battles. Non-violent civil disobedience isn’t in the Brotherhood playbook. Even more damning was the Brotherhood response elsewhere in Egypt. As the International Business Timesreports:

Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi have attacked churches in Dilga, Menya and Sohag after government security forces backed by armored cars and bulldozers stormed protest camps outside Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.

The Churches of Abraham and the Virgin Mary in Menya were burning after Morsi supporters set fire to the outside of the building exteriors and smashed through doors. … Muslim Brotherhood members also threw firebombs at Mar Gergiss church in Sohag, a city with a large community of Coptic Christians who represents up to 10 percent of Egypt’s 84 million people, causing it to burn down, the official MENA news agency said. Protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the Bon Pasteur Catholic Church and Monastery in Suez, setting it ablaze and breaking windows.

Why is the Brotherhood attacking churches as part of its argument with the military government?

The first reason is because the Christian minority, unlike the military, is vulnerable. Throughout the long year when Egypt suffered under Morsi’s Islamist rule, Christians and their churches were increasingly subject to attacks as the Muslim movement sought to make the position of the religious minority untenable. As the Brotherhood seeks to demonstrate that it is still a viable force in the country’s streets even after its Cairo strongholds are uprooted, expect more attacks on Christians to remind Egyptians that the Islamists are still a force to be reckoned with.

Second, the attacks on churches are not just a regrettable sideshow in what may be soon seen as a civil war as the Islamists seek to regain power after losing in the wake of the massive street protests that encouraged the army to launch the coup that ended Morsi’s rule. Rather, such attacks are an inextricable part of their worldview as they seek to transform Egypt in their own Islamist image. In the Muslim Brotherhood’s Egypt, there is no room for Christians or even secular Muslims. That is why so many in Egypt applauded the coup as perhaps the last chance to save the country from permanent Islamist rule.

The church attacks should remind the West that the stakes in the conflict in Egypt are high. If the U.S. seeks to cripple the military, they won’t be helping the cause of democracy. The Brotherhood may have used a seemingly democratic process to take power in 2012, but they would never have peacefully relinquished it or allowed their opponents to stop them from imposing their will on every aspect of Egyptian society. As difficult as it may be for some high-minded Americans to understand, in this case it is the military and not the protesters in Cairo who are seeking to stop tyranny. Though the military is an unattractive ally, anyone seeking to cut off vital U.S. aid to Egypt should remember that the only alternative to it is the party that is currently burning churches.

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