Cairo eyewitness account: ‘we’ll kill any Christian we get our hands on’
October 21, 2011
A former Middle East correspondent for The Wall Street Journal recounts what she saw on October 9, the day Egyptian police opened fire on Coptic Christian protestors.
Yasmine El Rashidi recounts:
An announcer for State TV had on air called for Egyptians to go down and “defend the soldiers who protected the Egyptian revolution” against “armed Copts” who had opened fire and were killing soldiers … Rough-looking men were arriving in groups … They held bludgeons, wooden planks, knives, and even swords, and walked boldly into the chaos of burning cars, flying bullets, and glass. “We’ll kill any Christian we get our hands on,” one of them shouted … Nearby, a young girl was harassed, and a mob assaulted a young Coptic couple, beating them and ripping their clothes. One of the perpetrators emerged from the gang with blood on his hands. “Christian blood!” he boasted …
Two days later, El Rashidi added, “as Copts were mourning their loved ones, the funeral procession of the executed gunman, El-Kamouny, marched through the streets of the southern city where he opened fire on Copts as they were leaving church on Christmas eve, killing six. Thousands of Muslims marched through the streets with his coffin. They chanted ‘La Illaha IlaAllah, La Illaha IlaAllah, El-Kamouny shaheed Allah’ (There is no God but Allah, There is no God but Allah, El-Kamouny is a martyr of Allah). People cheered them on. El-Kamouny, in their eyes, was a hero.”
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Posted by: Biscjim -
Oct. 22, 2011 2:39 PM ET USA
I have always been supportive of dialogue with Muslims and indeed have sometimes thought that i have far more in common with a God centered Muslim than than with secularists, but this story sure does help one understand the emotion behind our ancestors calling the crusades.
