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EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS HAPPY MURSI IS GONE BUT REMAIN WARY
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/726694/egyptian-christians-happy-mursi-is-gone-but-remain-wary.html
14:17, 19 July, 2013
YEREVAN, JULY 19 ARMENPRESS: Many members of Egypt's ancient Christian
minority fear Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood will not give up power so
easily, rpeorts Armenpress referring to Reuters.
Neither is the Coptic Christian community under any illusion that
the army's installation of an interim government devoid of Islamists
spells the end to its long-standing grievances, such as difficulties
in getting state jobs, equality before the law and securing permits
to build churches.
Communal tensions and attacks on Christians and churches rose sharply
under Mursi, Egypt's first freelyelected president. Many Copts, who
make up about a tenth of Egypt's 84 million people, left the country
where their ancestors settled in the earliest years of Christianity -
several centuries before the arrival of Islam.
Islamists are staging a vigil at a Cairo mosque and regular protests
to demand Mursi's reinstatement, and it is dawning on Christians
that they could yet return to power when elections are held under a
military plan to restore democracy.
Some might even resort to force, they fear. Islamists have killed at
least five Copts since Mursi's overthrow, according to the Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights, a rights group.
"It's an improvement that Mursi is gone but I am still not entirely
relaxed," said Roman Gouda, visiting with a friend the Egypt's biggest
Cathedral in the Cairo district of Abbasiya.
"I am worried because the Brotherhood keep protesting," said his
friend Amir Habib.
Habib was one of hundreds of Christian youths at the gated cathedral
in April when fighting broke out between Copts and Islamists, who
threw petrol bombs and fired birdshot from neighboring houses into
the compound. The Interior Ministry blamed Christians for starting
the trouble by torching cars.
Security is tight at the cathedral, which houses the Pope's seat,
theological institutes, tailors for religious vestments and a nuns'
home. Only one gate is open for the public, manned by security guards
and policemen. Few worshippers come as many want to keep a low profile,
a church official said.
During Mursi's presidency, Pope Tawadros said he felt Christians were
sidelined, ignored and neglected by the Brotherhood-led authorities.
Copts were emigrating "because they fear the new regime", he said.
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/726694/egyptian-christians-happy-mursi-is-gone-but-remain-wary.html
14:17, 19 July, 2013
YEREVAN, JULY 19 ARMENPRESS: Many members of Egypt's ancient Christian
minority fear Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood will not give up power so
easily, rpeorts Armenpress referring to Reuters.
Neither is the Coptic Christian community under any illusion that
the army's installation of an interim government devoid of Islamists
spells the end to its long-standing grievances, such as difficulties
in getting state jobs, equality before the law and securing permits
to build churches.
Communal tensions and attacks on Christians and churches rose sharply
under Mursi, Egypt's first freelyelected president. Many Copts, who
make up about a tenth of Egypt's 84 million people, left the country
where their ancestors settled in the earliest years of Christianity -
several centuries before the arrival of Islam.
Islamists are staging a vigil at a Cairo mosque and regular protests
to demand Mursi's reinstatement, and it is dawning on Christians
that they could yet return to power when elections are held under a
military plan to restore democracy.
Some might even resort to force, they fear. Islamists have killed at
least five Copts since Mursi's overthrow, according to the Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights, a rights group.
"It's an improvement that Mursi is gone but I am still not entirely
relaxed," said Roman Gouda, visiting with a friend the Egypt's biggest
Cathedral in the Cairo district of Abbasiya.
"I am worried because the Brotherhood keep protesting," said his
friend Amir Habib.
Habib was one of hundreds of Christian youths at the gated cathedral
in April when fighting broke out between Copts and Islamists, who
threw petrol bombs and fired birdshot from neighboring houses into
the compound. The Interior Ministry blamed Christians for starting
the trouble by torching cars.
Security is tight at the cathedral, which houses the Pope's seat,
theological institutes, tailors for religious vestments and a nuns'
home. Only one gate is open for the public, manned by security guards
and policemen. Few worshippers come as many want to keep a low profile,
a church official said.
During Mursi's presidency, Pope Tawadros said he felt Christians were
sidelined, ignored and neglected by the Brotherhood-led authorities.
Copts were emigrating "because they fear the new regime", he said.