|
Cairo, Egypt - The authorities have launched an investigation into an attack on a monastery in southern Egypt, according to a Monk, Father Mina.
Mink told a local newspaper that the general prosecutor was investigating the attack on the Abo Fana monastery near the city of Minya, after gunmen stormed the monastery and damaged eight hermitages.
"They attacked us with machine guns, tractors and cars. Eight hermitages were destroyed, bibles and crosses were burnt," he said, although the monks have not filed a complaint.
"It is not the first time we are attacked," Father Mina said, adding that on 1 January, a man opened fire on them.
"We filed a complaint at the police station but they didn't start an investigation," he said of the previous attack.
Relations between the minority Christian population and the Muslim majority here have deteriorated in recent months, as a string of incidents have heightened the tension between the two groups.
Some analysts have blamed the media for overplaying the tension.
"It definitely gets blown up. The term sectarian violence is obviously never really used on the ground - it is something the media seems to pick up quickly because it sells," Mohammed Yousri, Coordinator for the NGO Tadamon in Cairo, told PANA.
"The atmosphere in Egypt is very bad and people are suffering a great deal. The weakest point is the relationship between Coptic Christians and Muslims in the country, because that is what the despotic regime wants," George Ishaq, a leading activist and Coptic Christian scholar, said.
He alleged the government would rather see people fighting themselves than against it (the government), which he proffers as a reason why no investigation was ordered into the earlier attack.
"This violence is a result of (the people) having no outlet for the people to express themselves so they turn toward one another. The media plays this up a great deal," Ishaq said.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
