Article

2005-01-18 Home Front: WoT

Near riot at funeral of murdered Coptic Christian family

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Posted by Ebbavith Angang9747 2005-01-18 05:11|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Reg Req'd.

I don't even do BugMeNot anymore - the MSM isn't worth even that much trouble.

Posted by .com 2005-01-18 8:17:50 AM|| 2005-01-18 8:17:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Here you go.

The funeral for an Egyptian immigrant family found slain in their home here erupted into a scene of chaos and roiling emotion on Monday, with some mourners jumping on top of cars, shoving each other and threatening to beat a Muslim cleric who was escorted to safety by the police.

The source of the disruption at the Coptic Christian service appeared to be the presence of Muslims, who said they had come to pay their respects.

In the days since the victims, Hossam Armanious, 46; his wife, Amal Garas, 36; and their daughters, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were found stabbed to death in their home early on Friday, speculation that the slayings were a hate crime has led to loud recriminations by Christian Egyptians, expressed in news interviews and at a demonstration here on Sunday.

Muslims and Christians have a long and violent history in Egypt, where Muslims are the majority, but relations between the groups had never soured locally, several Muslim and Coptic Christian leaders said. Although the case brought new tension to the Egyptian community, the Jersey City police have refused to say whether they believe the slayings were the result of religious hatred.

"Those are killers!" yelled one man as Sheik Tarek Yousof Saleh, a Muslim cleric from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, left the funeral site, escorted by police officers. "We don't want them in the church!"

In a telephone interview yesterday afternoon, Sheik Saleh said he never intended to cause trouble and regretted attending the funeral. "I didn't come to hurt anyone, I came to support them," said Sheikh Saleh, 42, the imam of the Oulel Albab Mosque on Bay Ridge Avenue, sounding shaken. "I am sorry."

The uproar outside the community center of St. George and St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church, on Bergen Avenue, began when some of the hundreds of mourners present saw a Coptic bishop hug the sheik before the sheik left in a police car, several members of the church said. According to the Rev. Antonious Tanious and several other Coptic Christians, two men began screaming at Bishop David, who presides over the Coptic churches in the Northeast, asking him how he could let a Muslim attend the service.

Panicked police officers whisked the two men and some others into a nearby garage and closed the metal door just as a swell of people, some screaming and waving wooden crosses, pressed up against the door.

"A metal gate on the garage was pulled down to prevent the groups from attacking each other," said Capt. John Tooke of the Jersey City Police Department. "It was a very chaotic and emotional scene. We had people that were rowdy, disruptive and really out of control."

After 15 minutes, most of the group in the garage was allowed to leave. The two men were detained but not charged, Captain Tooke said. Another man walked around dazed afterward, his hand bleeding. "We tell the Muslim people, 'Don't come here.' We don't like them and they come," said Nadia Sourrial, a church member, echoing a sentiment expressed by numerous other people who were interviewed. "They like to show us we're dead."

In the interview yesterday, Sheik Saleh said two editors of local Arabic-language newspapers called him on Sunday evening and advised him to go to the funeral in a show of solidarity between Muslims and Christians, he said.

Sheik Saleh, who is Egyptian, went with one of the editors, Ahmed Saleh Maharem, who is also a columnist. Mr. Maharem said at least 10 other Muslims were present, and some were welcomed. But the Sheik, who wore a white abayya, or head covering, was most noticeably Muslim.

Dozens of other Muslims, many of them community leaders, canceled plans to attend the funeral after seeing television reports about the mounting friction, said Debbie Almontaser, a Muslim community activist in Brooklyn. The New Jersey office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement Monday saying that the organization had called on law enforcement authorities to do everything in their power to apprehend those responsible for the murders.

Posted by tipper 2005-01-18 9:50:46 AM|| 2005-01-18 9:50:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Egyptian Christians have been persecuted ever since Arab Muslims conquered them over a thousand years ago. From being majority Christian and Egyptian, the population has become Muslim and Arab. The funny thing is that the Arabs now claim credit for the achievements of the Egyptians thousands of years ago. You gotta love the gall.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-01-18 9:58:03 AM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-01-18 9:58:03 AM|| Front Page Top

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