No ‘Revolution’ for Egypt’s Christians

[At a loss for a headline]

We have agreed on the rules of the protest on Facebook: We will remain peaceful. We will not use sectarian or party-political slogans or posters. The Muslim Brothers may not carry religious symbols. Everything shall remain civil. Everything shall be done according to democratic procedures.

Hamed Abdel-Samad, Tagebuch aus Ägypten: Mein Land, meine Leute, meine Revolution (Diary from Egypt: My Country, my people, my revolution), in: Welt Online, 5/2/2011 (my translation)

Cairo: February 3, 2011. (By Mary Abdelmassih AINA) — News of a massacre of two Christian Coptic families by Islamists just emerged from Upper Egypt with the return of the Internet connections after a week of Internet blackout by the Egyptian regime. The massacre took place on Sunday, January 30 at 3 PM in the village of Sharona near Maghagha, Minya province. Two Islamists groups, aided by the Muslim neighbors, descended on the roof of houses owned by Copts, killing eleven Copts, including children, and seriously injuring four others.

Anba Agathon, Bishop of Maghagha, told Coptic activist Dr. Mona Roman in a televised interview on Al-Karma TV that the killers are their neighbors, who seized the opportunity of the mayhem prevailing in Egypt and the absence of police protection to slaughter the Copts. He said that he visited today the four injured Copts, who escaped death despite being shot, at Maghagha General Hospital and they told him that they recognized the main attackers as they come from the same village of Sharona. They gave the Bishop details of what happened.

Pakistan Christian Post, 5/2/2011