Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas amid tight security
Million
Egypt’s Orthodox Christians flocked to churches on Wednesday to attend Masses on Christmas Eve across the predominantly Muslim country, as the government continues to battle a burgeoning Islamic insurgency.
Police painstakingly searched more than 300 churches in Cairo, alone for explosive devices, according to police officer Gamal Halawa. Road blocks were setup before churches nationwide and cars and motorcycles were temporarily banned from idling in front of them, he added.
Police targeted “any attempt to spoil the joy of the celebrations with decisive and firm action”, Halawa said.
Militant attacks have multiplied after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013, spreading from the restive Sinai Peninsula and striking the mainland numerous times in recent months. the number of Orthodox Coptic Christians in Egypt, making up about 10 percent of the country’s whole population Some extremists in Sinai have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and claimed the downing of a Russian airliner that killed 224 people there last year.
At greater risk
Egypt’s Christians strongly supported the ouster of the first freely elected, but divisive leader. Ever since, Christian gatherings have been at a greater risk of attacks.
Following Morsi’s toppling, many Islam is ts claimed Christians had conspired with the military against them as attacks on Christian homes, businesses and churches surged south of Cairo.
“We have been late in restoring and fixing what has been burned. Everything will be fixed. Please accept our apologies for what happened,’’ President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who as military chief led Morsi’s ouster, told the Christian crowds at Cairo’s St Mark Cathedral in a rare public apology and acknowledgment of the attacks.
El-Sissi, widely seen as a savior by Christians, received a rock star greeting at the cathedral, these at of the C optic Orthodox Church. Security forces apparently failed to contain the cheering, flowersthrowing crowds on el-Sissi’s way out of the church, forcing them to turn back and leave from a different exit.
Outside St Mark, heavily armed black-clad troops flanked the massive cathedral, as journalists and guests passed through metal detectors and had their IDs checked numerous times before they were granted entry. Metal detectors were also set up in most churches nationwide.
Egypt’s Orthodox Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of the country’s 90 million people.