Faith Under
Fire.......
Mob attacks Christian protest in Egypt
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press
CAIRO — An angry mob attacked a group of mainly Christian
protesters demanding drastic measures to heal religious tension
amid a spike in violence, leaving 65 people injured, officials
said Sunday.
The Christian protesters have been holding their sit-in outside
the state television building in Cairo for nearly a week following
deadly Christian-Muslim clashes that left a church burned and 15
people dead.
More than 100 people rushed into the sit-in area, lobbing rocks
and fire bombs from an overpass and charging toward the few
hundred protesters sleeping in the area. Vehicles were set on fire
and fires burned in the middle of the street.
Police and army troops fired in the air to disperse the crowd, and
a tree was set on fire under the overpass.
The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the attackers
had returned to avenge an earlier scuffle with the protesters who
prevented a motorist from going through the area. A fight ensued,
and the motorists fired blank rounds. The protesters chased the
motorist and beat him badly.
Marc Mino, a protest organizer, told state TV the motorists had
provoked the fight after refusing to be searched before entering
the protest area, then provoking the protesters.
Medics said 65 were injured in Sunday's melee, two in critical
condition. The security official said nearly 50 of the riot
instigators were arrested.
A witness, Alfred Raouf, said armored vehicles later blocked
traffic and pedestrians from going down from the bridge toward the
protest area. The number of protesters at the sit-in shrunk, but
those remaining insisted the strike would continue as their area
was cordoned off by the security, Raouf said.
Religious clashes and a rising wave of crime have proved to be a
major challenge for Egypt's military rulers in the days following
the 18-day uprising that led to the Feb. 11 ouster of ex-President
Hosni Mubarak.
Following the religious violence, the military vowed to respond
firmly to instigators of violence and promised to respond to a
number of the Christian demands, including reopening nearly 50
churches. But no trial date has been set for those responsible for
the church burning or the violence last week.
Just hours before the Cairo violence, several suspected Islamic
extremists bombed the tomb of a Muslim saint in the northern Sinai
town of Sheik Zweid, said a security official, also declining to
be identified because he wasn't authorized to release the
information. The official said the eight or nine attackers fled
the area. Muslim radicals have blown up at least five other Muslim
shrines, because they believe the veneration of saints as a
violation of Islam.
Meanwhile, doctors said Egypt's ex-first lady Suzanne Mubarak was
in stable condition after treatment for a "panic attack" and has
effectively been put under arrest in the hospital in the Red Sea
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh pending further investigation of
corruption allegations, officials said Saturday.
Mrs. Mubarak fainted and suffered chest pains following a
three-hour interrogation Friday which ended with a decision to
detain her for 15 days as prosecutors looked at the sources of her
wealth. She has been accused of taking advantage of his position
for personal gain.
Health Minister Ashraf Hatem said the 70-year old Mrs. Mubarak was
in stable condition Saturday after a 24-hour monitoring period in
the intensive care unit of the hospital in the Red Sea town of
Sharm el-Sheikh. She is in the custody of the police, Hatem said,
according to Egypt's state news agency MENA.
Later, a second team recommended she remain under observation for
an additional 48 hours, according to the hospital's director, Dr.
Mohammed Fatahallah. He said the team determined that Mrs. Mubarak
still has high blood pressure and suffers from chest pains, and an
angioplasty may be necessary. He was speaking to The Associated
Press.
The continuing treatment makes it unlikely she will be transferred
quickly to a Cairo women's prison facility, where she had been
expected to be moved.
Earlier, a hospital official had told The Associated Press that
Mrs. Mubarak on Friday "suffered from a sudden panic attack after
hearing that she will be sent to prison." The hospital official
spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to
release the information before further tests were conducted.
Mrs. Mubarak's 83-year-old husband also is being treated in the
Sharm el-Sheikh hospital, for a heart condition.
The former president had been questioned several times about
allegations that he illegally amassed vast wealth, but Mrs.
Mubarak was interrogated on Thursday for the first time on
corruption charges.
The Mubaraks and other members of the former regime have been the
subject of legal efforts to bring them to trial since the
ex-president was forced to resign Feb. 11.
The process has been complicated by slow procedures and— in the
Mubaraks' case— by health issues. Many in the protest movement
have been critical of the current military rulers for being slow
in pursuing corrupt officials, although many former regime members
have been jailed.
Associated Press writer Ashraf Sweilam in Sharm el-Sheikh
contributed to this report.