Egypt's Copts fearful Christians in corner

[demosincebirth]

ASSIUT, Egypt (AP) — It was nighttime and 10,000 Islamist were marching down the most heavily Christian street in this ancient Egyptian city, chanting "Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians." A half-dozen kids were spray-painting "Boycott the Christians" on walls, supervised by an adult.

While Islamist are on the defensive in Cairo following the military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi, in Assiut and elsewhere in Egypt's deep south they are waging a stepped-up hate campaign, claiming the country's Christian minority somehow engineered Morsi's downfall.

"Tawadros is a dog," says a spray-painted insult, referring to Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Copts, as Egypt's Christians are called. Christian homes, stores and places of worship have been marked with large painted crosses.

The hostility led a coalition of 16 Egyptian rights groups to warn on Wednesday of a wave of violence to come, and to demand that the post-coup authorities protect the Christians who are 10 percent of the population, and suffer chronic discrimination.

Nile-side Assiut, a city of one million people 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Cairo, dates back to the pharaohs. The New Testament says Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus passed through as they fled the infanticidal King Herod. Today, its Christian fears are compounded by the failure of authorities to curb the graffiti-spraying and the Islamist' demonstrations, which have gone on almost nightly since the July 3 coup that ousted Morsi.

http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-coup-puts-fearful-christians-corner-062553010.html

[hrmjustin]

1. My Neighbors fled Egypt because they were attack for being Christian.

Horrible that people can not have religious freedoms and the right to be left alone in all places.

[cbayer]

2. I think you mean "coup puts" not Copts.

Anyway, this is an unfortunate outcome but reflective of the increasing religious radicalism in the area, imo.