Gathering for the Coptic Martyrs in Federation Square 7th January 2011

Gathering for the Coptic Martyrs of Alexandria 1st January 2011,
Federation Square Melbourne 7th January 2011

Ecumenical Prayer Service

Ecumenical Prayer Service for the Coptic Martyrs of Alexandria 1st January 2011.
St, Paul Anglican Cathedral 7th January 2011

Copts celebrate but mourn

Bishop Mousa Interview with Wounded

Christian Youth Channel - CYC

http://www.cycnow.com/

Pope condemns Egypt church attack

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his weekly Angelus blessing to the crowd gathered below in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican January 2, 2011

VATICAN CITY | Sun Jan 2, 2011 11:37am GMT

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday condemned the bomb attack outside a church in Egypt on Saturday that killed at least 21 people, the latest in a string of attacks against Christians in the Middle East and Africa.

"This vile gesture of death, like that of putting bombs near to the houses of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave, offends God and all of humanity," the pope said after his angelus blessing.

Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Janet Lawrence


http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6BU2X620110102?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a54:g12:r4:c0.386561:b40658884:z3

Factbox - Details on incidents involving Egypt's Christians

Sat Jan 1, 2011 1:30pm GMT

(Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber attacked a church in Egypt's northern city of Alexandria, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens more as Christians in the Muslim-majority country marked the New Year. Although sectarian tensions often flare, analysts said this incident was on a much bigger scale than the kind of communal violence that can erupt over issues such as building churches or relationships between men and women of the two communities.

Below is list of recent developments related to violence involving Christians in Egypt:

January 1, 2011 -- A suspected suicide bomber hits a church in Alexandria, killing at least 17 and prompting Christians to take to the streets in protest. Some Christians and Muslims pelt each other with stones. Police fire tear gas to disperse protesters.

Nov 24, 2010 -- Clashes between riot police and hundreds of Christians protesting after construction of a church is halted in Cairo takes a sectarian turn as dozens of Muslims join the violence. Two Christians are killed by the violence, and more than 150 people are detained.

November 1, 2010 -- The Islamic State of Iraq, the al Qaeda-affiliated group which claimed responsibility for an attack on a Baghdad church, threatens attacks on the Christian church in Egypt over its treatment of women the group said the church was holding after they had converted to Islam.

April 11, 2010 -- Egyptian group the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights issues a report saying the number of cases of sectarian violence rose between 2008 and 2009 and calls for the prosecution of offenders to prevent a further escalation.

January 6, 2010 -- Six Christians and a Muslim policeman are killed in a drive-by shooting on the eve of the Orthodox Coptic Christmas outside a church in the southern town of Nagaa Hamady. The shooting leads to protests. Some Christian and Muslim homes and shops are set a blaze in the violence.

May 10, 2009 -- A small homemade bomb explodes near a church in Cairo but no one is hurt, security sources say. The device damages a car and a second one is found and detonated by police in the same area in the northeast of the capital, sources say.

(Compiled by Edmund Blair in Cairo; editing by Philippa Fletcher)


http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE7000Y520110101?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a54:g12:r1:c0.533249:b40658884:z3

Statement From His Grace Bishop Suriel‏

Copts Massacred on New Years Day 2011

Coptics protesting bombing clash with Egypt police

By Sarah Mikhail and Sherine El Madany

CAIRO | Sun Jan 2, 2011 11:01pm GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Angry Coptic Christians clashed with police on Sunday as they demanded more protection for Egypt's Christians following a New Year's Day church bombing that killed 21 of their brethren.

Hundreds of members of Egypt's large Christian minority protested in Cairo and Alexandria, the northern city where the presumed suicide bomber detonated a device outside a church during a midnight service.

A security source said Egypt was holding seven people for questioning over Saturday's bombing, which also wounded 97 people, and had released 10 others.

At Saint Mark's Cathedral, the Cairo base of Orthodox Pope Shenouda, several hundred young Copts fought police on Sunday as they tried to leave the cathedral grounds and take to the streets to demand more protection for Christians.

Their protest continued into the night, the crowd held back by a cordon of riot police nine men deep. A church official approached the crowd briefly to try to calm them down, without success.

"Security - are you with us or with them?" the men cried. "You government are cowards."

"Pope Shenouda, have a care. We are youth. We will protect you with our blood," the men shouted, many of them holding aloft makeshift wooden crosses. "Revolution, revolution in Egypt, in all churches of Egypt."

Earlier, protestors in Cairo had heckled government officials who visited the cathedral compound to offer condolences: "Where are you, Interior Minister, when they are killing our brothers before your eyes?"

Some protesters pelted a minister's car with stones when he left, witnesses said. Some visiting Christian officials had cars shaken by angry demonstrators, while other protesters scuffled with police outside the compound.

Extra police officers were posted outside several churches in Cairo and Alexandria on Sunday, preventing cars from parking next to the buildings, witnesses said.

Pope Benedict, head of the Roman Catholic church, condemned the bombing as a "vile gesture," the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in the Middle East and Africa.

Egyptian officials said there were indications that "foreign elements" were behind the blast and that it seemed to have been the work of a suicide bomber.

An Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda threatened in November to attack Egypt's Coptic Church. And about two weeks before the bombing, a statement on an Islamist website urged Muslims to attack churches in Egypt and elsewhere around Christmas, which for Orthodox denominations such as the Copts falls on January 7.

A statement on another Islamist website after the blast read: "This is the first drop of heavy rain, hand over our prisoners and turn to Islam." No group was named.

Islamist groups have accused the Church of trying to coerce Christian women who wanted to convert to Islam.

One protester, Nader Shenouda, said: "When there was a threat from al Qaeda a month or a month and a half ago, did the government have to wait till the disaster happened before protecting us?"

Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the head of al Azhar, Egypt's most prestigious seat of Sunni learning, visited the Muslim Orthodox Coptic Pope Shenouda to express condolences.

President Hosni Mubarak, 82, has pledged to track down the culprit. He made a televised address on Sunday calling for national unity, saying the attack was directed at all Egyptians, not just Christians.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 79 million people. Tensions often flare with the majority Muslims over issues such as building churches or close relationships between members of the two faiths.

Analysts said the attack was on a much bigger scale than typical sectarian flare-ups but said laws that make it easier to build a mosque than a church, and similar causes of Christian complaint, meant such an attack would fuel sectarian tension.

Angus Blair, head of research at investment bank Beltone Financial, said the blast was likely to be brushed off by investors in the bourse and was not likely to have a "material negative impact" on tourism, a major revenue source.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh, writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Jon Boyle)


http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE7010MG20110102?pageNumber=1

Egypt church blast death toll rises to 23

CAIRO | Tue Jan 4, 2011 3:09pm GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) - The death toll from a New Year bombing outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria has risen by two to 23, the official news agency MENA said on Tuesday.

Dozens of people were wounded when a presumed suicide bomber detonated a device during a midnight service.

No clear official account has emerged of how the attack was carried out but political analysts point to a small cell, not a large militant group such as those behind an Islamist insurgency that flared more than a decade ago.

A Health Ministry official said 18 bodies had been identified but put the possible number of dead at 22, based on studies of body parts found at the scene.

Billionaire Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, one of Egypt's biggest listed companies, has offered 1 million Egyptian pounds ($172,500) for information on those behind the January 1 attack, a state newspaper said Tuesday.

The Dutch anti-terrorism agency NCTb has urged police to keep an eye on Coptic churches in three Dutch cities after they were included in Internet threats against Coptic churches in Europe, including France and Britain.

The bombing provoked protests and some clashes with police in Alexandria and the capital, Cairo, by young Christians calling for more protection.

Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 79 million, which is mostly Muslim. Sectarian violence is rare but disputes on issues from church building to religious conversions and divorce have grown in the past year.

Early last year, a drive-by shooting of six Christians and a Muslim policeman at a church in southern Egypt led to protests.

Egyptian officials have said there are indications "foreign elements" were behind the January 1 blast. An Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda threatened in November to attack Egyptian Christians.

(Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Additional reporting by Sherine El Madany and Amsterdam bureau; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)


http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE7032BY20110104?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a54:g12:r5:c0.384998:b40658884:z3

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt at New Year's Midnight Celebration

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt at New Year's Midnight Celebration

SBS News Report on Coptic Massacre 3

Bomb Blast at Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria

Snaps taken after the Bomb Blast at Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria, 230 km (140 miles) north of Cairo January 1, 2011. A car bombing outside the church killed 21 people as worshipers gathered to mark the New Year

Fox News

Fox News - Christians, police clash after Egypt church bombing

Melbourne Grief - Australian News

Police and Protesters Battle in Shubra (RAW VIDEO)

Raw video of police and protesters squaring off in the Cairo district of Shubra for the third consecutive day. Demonstrators are angry over the New Year's Eve bombing of a church in Alexandria

Father Tadros Malaty Crying

Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty Crying in Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral



2nd Group Funeral After Investigating in Mar Mina Monastery.
Extra 4 people delivered and declared DEAD

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt at New Year's Midnight Celebration

Martyrs Blood Cross

Martyrs Blood on Church Walls

Martyrs Blood on Church Walls

Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral in Mar Mina Monastery

Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral in Mar Mina Monastery

Fatal Bomb Hits a Church in Egypt

A bomb, possibly worn by a suicide attacker, ripped through a throng of worshipers outside of a Coptic Christian church in the port city of Alexandria, Egypt, early Saturday, killing at least 21 people in the worst attack against Egypt’s Christian minority in recent memory.

Egypt’s Health Ministry said that at least 96 people were wounded in the blast, which occurred shortly after midnight outside the Saints Church as the New Year’s Mass was ending and congregants headed to the doors.

By Saturday evening, patches of blood were visible high on the front walls of the church, which was pockmarked with holes. Across the street, a mosque was also stained with blood.

“There were bodies on the streets,” said Sherif Ibrahim, who saw the blast’s aftermath. “Hands, legs, stomachs. Girls, women and men.”

Government officials quickly blamed foreign terrorists for the bombing and called for national unity. In a televised address hours after the bombing, President Hosni Mubarak said that the authorities had found evidence of “foreign fingers,” adding: “We are all in one trench. We will cut off the head of the snake, and confront terrorism and defeat it.”

But within hours of the explosion, clashes between angry Christians and the security forces outside the church were reminders of a long-simmering domestic conflict.

Periodic violence between members of Egypt’s Muslim majority and Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country’s 80 million people, have led to accusations that the government ignores, and even exacerbates, a dangerous sectarian divide. Officials often blame local conflicts for such violence, dismissing talk of sectarian tension.

Over the last year, those tensions were repeatedly marked by violence. Last January, Muslim gunmen opened fire on worshipers leaving a church in southern Egypt, killing seven people. In November, Christians angered that the authorities stopped construction on a church clashed with the police in Cairo, leaving one person dead.

There was no clear indication on Saturday of who was behind the bombing, though it followed a warning of sorts from overseas. Last month, a threat appeared on a Web site that claimed to represent a militant group affiliated with Al Qaeda, called the Islamic State of Iraq. The group claimed responsibility for the siege of a Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad in October that left about 60 people dead.

The warning, which promised more violence, referred to a church in Egypt, which it said was holding two women because they had converted to Islam.

Several people who saw the explosion said it had come from a car bomb. Sameh Atallah said that around 12:15 a.m., a man got out of a car in front of the church. “He was talking on the phone for not even a minute and his car exploded,” Mr. Atallah said.

In a statement, the country’s Interior Ministry said a preliminary investigation pointed to a suicide bomber and not a car bomb. It said the investigation had found that a locally made explosive, filled with nails and ball bearings, was worn by a bomber who was killed in the attack.

There seemed to be some agreement that the attack, because of its ferocity and the possible involvement of a suicide bomber, represented something new. Diaa Rashwan of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that while Al Qaeda has no presence in Egypt, “This is a new method. It has Al Qaeda features. I think it is a group of Egyptians who were planning this for a while.”

Outside the church late Saturday night, interviews revealed a fractured community. People who identified themselves as Christian were quick to say that Egyptians were behind the bombing, while Muslims said it was the work of outsiders.

“We’re going to die here,” said Mr. Ibrahim, who saw the bombing’s aftermath. “But our churches are here. Our lives are here. What will we do?”

Writing after the bombing on Ahram Online, its editor, Hani Shukrallah, criticized “supposedly moderate Muslims” for being “narrow-minded” and blamed the government for amplifying sectarian tensions.

It was time, he wrote, for Egyptians to face up to a hard reality: “The massacres continue, each more horrible than the one before, and the bigotry and intolerance spread deeper and wider into every nook and cranny of our society.”

An Egypt without Christians was no longer hard to imagine, he wrote, adding, “This will be an Egypt which I do not recognize and to which I have no desire to belong.”

Kareem Fahim reported from New York, and Liam Stack from Alexandria, Egypt. Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/world/middleeast/02egypt.html

Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral

Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral