Some 500 Islamists from the North Cairo district of Shubra al-Kheima gathered last Friday around al-Samiriya (The Samaritan) building, a community centre for health and social services owned and operated by the for Coptic Orthodox Bishopric of Shubra al-Kheima
Some 500 Islamists from the North Cairo district of Shubra al-Kheima gathered last Friday around al-Samiriya (The Samaritan) building, a community centre for health and social services owned and operated by the for Coptic Orthodox Bishopric of Shubra al-Kheima, to protest against the possibility that the fully-legal building might hold a church or chapel inside. They insisted they would hold the Muslim afternoon prayers in the building, a move which if executed would denote the building a mosque and thus prevent its ever going back to Church ownership or operation.
The police forces managed to protect the building, and persuaded the protestors to leave.
Shubra al-Kheima Bishop Anba Morqos commented on the incident by reminding that this was not the first time hardliners menace Church activities. The Samaritan in particular has been targeted several times before despite the fact that it is fully licensed and all the documents legalising it are in good shape, on the pretext that prayers or religious rites might be held in the building. “We totally reject such behaviour,” the Bishop said. “This time all ended well because the police managed to disperse the protestors without any damages,” he said.
WATANI International
23 September 2012