Egypt minister pelted with stones as cleric accuses Pope of meddling

MOHAMMED ABED| AFP
Egyptian Christians shout slogans as they protest on January 2, 2011 outside the Al-Qiddissine (The Saints) church in Alexandria, following a New Year’s Eve car bomb attack on the Coptic church in the northern Egyptian city in which 21 people were killed.

CAIRO, Monday

Angry Christian demonstrators pelted an Egyptian minister with stones yesterday, as fears rose of sectarian unrest after a bombing at a church that killed 21 people.

Hundreds of Coptic Christians gathered inside the gates of Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral where the Coptic pope, Shenouda III, has his headquarters and heckled officials who came to pay condolences.

Demonstrators chased the state minister for economic development, Osman Mohammed Osman, to his car and pelted him with stones after he met Shenouda, while others clashed with police standing outside the gates.

A police official said at least 40 policemen suffered light wounds when the protesters pelted them with stones.

More than a thousand protesters broke through the gates and spilled into nearby streets, stopping cars, banging on their hoods and pelting them with stones. Meanwhile, Egypt’s top Muslim cleric yesterday criticised Pope Benedict XVI’s call for world leaders to defend Christians as interference in his country’s affairs, the official MENA news agency reported.

The call, following the deadly car-bombing targeting a Coptic church in Alexandria northern Egypt, was “unacceptable interference in Egypt’s affairs,” Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the oldest Islamic seat of learning, told reporters.

“I disagree with the pope’s view, and I ask why did the pope not call for the protection of Muslims when they were subjected to killings in Iraq?” he said at a news conference.

The Vatican immediately rejected the accusation, saying the head of the Roman Catholic Church had shown solidarity with the Coptic community as well as concern for the consequences of the violence for the Christian and Muslim population.

“Therefore we cannot see how the pope’s approach to bring everybody to accept non-violence can be considered meddling,” ANSA news agency quoted Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi as saying.

Meanwhile, Egypt was on high alert today ahead of the Coptic Christmas holiday following the church bombing.

Police cancelled leave for senior officers and were tightening surveillance of airports and ports to prevent suspects from leaving the country, as new checkpoints were set up across the nation.

Security was also to be beefed up at churches for Christmas which Copts celebrate on January 7, security officials said.

Latest reports say an Al-Qaeda website had identified in December the church in Alexandria, Egypt, which was bombed as being among Coptic places designated as targets.

Al-Qiddissin (The Saints) church, where 21 people were killed and 79 wounded in Saturday’s bombing, was on a list posted by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shumukh al-Islam website of 50 Coptic churches across Egypt.

Coptic churches in several European countries, including France, Germany and Britain, also figured on the list which was posted on December 2.

A message announcing “bomb attacks against churches during Christmas... when they will be most crowded” was posted alongside the list of would-be targets. “Get up and give up sleep,” said the message.

“This is an important notice on bomb attacks against churches during Christmas,” it said.

It urged “every Muslim who cares about the honour of his sisters to bomb these churches during Christmas celebrations, when they will be most crowded.” (AFP)