Cairo: Muslim Brotherhood violence targets historical Church of Virgin Mary

Egypt, November 02, 2013: Islamists tear down banners and spray insults against the patriarch, Copts and the Armed on its walls. An attempt to storm the building is stopped. The church is a place of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims because of an apparition of the Virgin Mary

Egypt’s churches came under attack once again yesterday when  a procession of students linked to the Muslim Brotherhood attacked the church of the Virgin Mary in Zaytoun , in the eastern part of Cairo, which marks the site of a famous apparition of Our Lady . The group – which came directly from Friday prayers in the mosque next door – clashed with some young Christians, who prevented the Islamists from storming the building. Thanks to the intervention of some passers-by, who calmed the brawl, a more serious incident of violence was avoided, but the situation remains tense. On 20 October last 5 people were killed in an attack on the Church of the Virgin Mary in Al- Warraq .

The Zaytoun attack was filmed and posted online.  The video shows the Islamists marching on the place of worship, shouting slogans against the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros . On arriving in the square in front of the Church they are seen tearing down a banner from the front of the church and covering the façade with graffiti insulting the patriarch, the Copts and the Armed Forces .

Local sources said that every Friday after the midday prayer, the Islamists always pass in front of the church hurling insults and anti-Christian slogans . To avoid problems Christians bar the doors of the building. Near the church there is the el- Aziz Bellah mosque, whose faithful militate in the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood. Yesterday, Zaytoun district police arrested a man who had over well 108 thousand posters insulting Christians and the army hidden in his home.

As is the case with the church of the Virgin Mary in al- Waaraq, the Zaytoun church is famous throughout Egypt for a miracle: on June 2, 1968 Our Lady appeared on the dome. From then on , the place became a pilgrimage site for Christians and Muslims.

– asianews