04 Jan 2011
The bomb attack against a Coptic church in Egypt, along with a list of targets found on a radical Muslim website, have led police in several European countries to guard Coptic churches ahead of Orthodox Christmas celebrations on Friday. Moderate Muslims have offered to help.
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| Father Pigol Bassili, from the St. Markus Coptic Orthodox Church in Frankfurt |
"We will show a stronger presence in front of Coptic churches, particularly during the Coptic Christmas on Thursday and Friday," a spokeswoman for police in Hanover, Germany, where one church was threatened, told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
A list of Coptic targets in Europe surfaced about two weeks ago on the website Shumukh al-Islam, which is associated with al-Qaida. The site called for bomb attacks against a number of Coptic targets on Jan. 7, including churches in the Netherlands, France, Austria, Britain and Germany.
The al-Qiddisin Church in Alexandria, where a suspected suicide bomber set off a car bomb early on New Year's Day, also appeared on the list. A spokesman from the German federal police agency said warnings about the list had been issued in Germany before Dec. 25 -- but the Alexandria blast was a "proof of danger."
Muslims Offer to Help
Muslim groups in the Netherlands have offered to help protect Coptic churches there them "from threats by al-Qaida," according to a joint statement by the three largest Dutch Muslim organizations. "Muslims have to do this, above all, because al-Qaida claims to act in the name of Islam," the statement said.
The head pastor at Amsterdam's Coptic church said the offer had been verified and that Copts in the Netherlands were grateful.
Coptic Christians represent an African branch of the Orthodox Church. They're prevalent in Egypt, but they trace their origins to Abyssinia -- what's now, roughly, Ethiopia. They're a distinct minority in Europe. Some 6,000 Copts live in Germany, 6,000 in the Netherlands, and 45,000 in France. Until recently they rarely made headlines as a group.
"We're afraid," said the Coptic deacon George Abdel Seed from the St. Athanasius Church in the western German city of Bitburg, according to the German Press Agency on Tuesday. "Everyone's living in great fear."
msm, with wire reports
