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Posted: 11:17 PM Oct 11, 2011
Egypt Coptic Church Decries Attacks On Christians
A church statement said the rioting reflects "problems that occur repeatedly and go unpunished."
Reporter: Associated Press |
Angry Egyptian Christians protest outside St. Mark's Cathedral against the military ruling council in Cairo Egypt, Monday, Oct. 10, 2011 a day after at least 24 people were killed when Christians, angered by a recent church attack, clashed Sunday night with Muslims and security forces outside the state television building in central Cairo.
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CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's Coptic church is blasting authorities for allowing repeated attacks on Christians with impunity as the death toll from Sunday night's rioting continues to rise.
More than two dozen people were killed, most of them Christians
who were trying to stage a peaceful protest in Cairo over an attack
on a church, and hundreds were injured.
The spiritual leader of the Coptic Christian minority, Pope Shenouda III, declared three days of mourning, praying and fasting for the victims and presided over funerals for some of the Christians killed. A church statement said the rioting reflects "problems that occur repeatedly and go unpunished."
Smaller skirmishes broke out again Monday outside the Coptic
hospital where many of the Christian victims were taken the night before. Several hundred Christians pelted police with rocks outside
while the screams of grieving women rang out from inside the hospital. Empty coffins were lined up outside.
In Washington, a White House statement said, "The United States
continues to believe that the rights of minorities - including Copts - must be respected, and that all people have the universal rights of peaceful protest and religious freedom."
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
