By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: Dozens of Muslims and Copts chanted slogans of national unity as Prime Minister Essam Sharaf reopened the Virgin Church in Cairo’s Imbaba district on Tuesday after its renovation. The government of Giza paid an estimated LE 6.5 million to renovate the church, according to a statement published on the Cabinet’s Facebook page …
By Sami Aboudi / Reuters CAIRO: Mohammed Fathi worked his brush gently over an icon of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, removing soot from its surface inside a church gutted in an attack by Islamists this month. “It takes a lot of careful work to do that,” Fathi said. “We have to do a lot of …
By H.A. Hellyer CAIRO: The recent burning of a church in Cairo’s Imbaba district reminded me of New Year’s Eve this year, when I was in Cairo. At the time, I heard about the bombing outside the church in Alexandria, and I saw the outrage that took place on the streets of Cairo — and the …
By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: Police forces guarding the Virgin Church in Imbaba fled when it was attacked by thugs nine days ago, according to a report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIHR). EIPR issued a report on Monday including the findings of a field investigation carried out by its researchers on the sectarian attacks …
By AFP CAIRO: A young woman whose complicated love life led to Muslim-Christian clashes that killed 15 people in Cairo was arrested on Thursday and charged with polyandry, a judicial source told AFP. Abeer Talaat Fakhry, 26, was living with her Christian husband in the southern city of Assiut when she ran away from home, …
By Sarah El Sirgany CAIRO: It’s easy to find a person to blame for everything that goes wrong. In the Imbaba clashes, this person is Abeer Fakhry, the woman whose rumored holdup in a church for converting to Islam, sparked sectarian clashes that escalated beyond control. When 12 people are killed, a church is burnt and …
By Mai Shams El-Din CAIRO: The fact finding committee of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) said in a press conference Wednesday that thugs were responsible for setting fire to the Virgin Mary Church in Imbaba, after clashes erupted two kilometers away in front of Marmina Church. “The events were first sectarian when a group …
By AFP CAIRO: Egypt’s media on Monday slammed what it said were “anti-revolutionaries” trying to trigger sectarian violence, which Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei labeled “religious extremism of the Middle Ages.” “We are facing the anti-revolutionary groups who are convinced that any success of the revolution was an even greater threat to their interests and …
By Tamim El-Elyan CAIRO: Twelve died and 232 were injured in Saturday’s Imbaba clashes, which were fueled by a rumor that a Christian woman who converted to Islam was being held inside Marimina Church. Among those killed were four Christians and six Muslims, while two other bodies were still unidentified, according to AFP. The Supreme Council …
By Dalia Rabie and Tamim Elyan CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA: Thousands of protesters demonstrated in front of the state-TV building blocking the road and hundreds protested in front of the Alexandria Library on Sunday to condemn the previous night’s sectarian clashes in Imbaba, which left at least 12 dead. Clashes erupted in Cairo when a march heading towards the …
By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: Around 30 Coptic protesters congregated at the US embassy Sunday, demanding the prosecution of those responsible for clashes in Imbaba the previous night, which left at least 12 dead. Political analysts, however, said this is an issue that should be solved without foreign intervention. “If the army and the police won’t listen …
By AFP CAIRO: Egypt’s military rulers warned on Sunday of strong measures against anyone inciting sectarian strife, in a bid to ease tensions between Muslims and Christians. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took power after president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February, said it was “exerting all efforts to end sectarian disagreements on …
By Essam Fadl CAIRO: The Giza Archbishopric halted the activities of an unlicensed services center in the Bashtil district of Imbaba until it is licensed after a group of Salafis and other Muslim inhabitants protested in front of it, holding a number of Copts and children inside. The center includes a Coptic charity organization, kindergarten and …
