Egypt Unrest Signals Danger for Christians
As growing unrest in Egypt leaves the country on the brink of revolution, there are fears that radical Islamists may capitalise on the crisis to seize power - signalling danger for the beleaguered Christian community. Protests against President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime have been gathering momentum throughout this week. And off the back of the Tunisian uprising, which resulted in the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, there is the mood and momentum for radical change in Egypt. The unrest gained new impetus when the largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, said it would back demonstrations on Friday (28 January). The banned Islamist group demanded that Mubarak dissolve the nation's recently formed parliament and hold a new election, threatening in a statement on its website that if the Egyptian government "does not move fast and shoulder responsibility to start a serious reform process, stability might not last for long". Egypt is 90% Muslim, and the Brotherhood, which lost all 88 of its parliamentary seats in last November's election, appears to be trying to harness the political, economic and social unrest that sparked the riots to gather support for its Islamist agenda.The Brotherhood wrote: The events in Tunisia are a cornerstone for the rest of the people of the Arab and Islamic world. It is a message to all the despotic leaders and the corrupt regimes that they are not safe and they are living on the tip of a volcano of people's anger and God's wrath. Many commentators have warned of a domino effect from Tunisia across the Arab world, as instability grows in Algeria, Lebanon, Yemen and Jordan. If Egypt were to be taken over by Islamists, the consequences for the region could be very serious. Global intelligence analyst George Friedman of Stratfor has warned: An Islamist Egypt would give dramatic impetus to radical Islam throughout the Arab world... The transformation of Egypt into an Islamist country would be the single most significant event we could imagine in the Islamic world, beyond an Iranian bomb. The protests in Egypt follow targeted attacks against the country's Christians, most notably the suicide bombing at a church in Alexandria on New Year's Day that killed at least 21 worshippers. Christians took to the streets in protest over the lack of protection and justice for their community. Their insecurity could only be increased under an Islamist regime, and in the worst case they could even be forced to flee the country en masse. In addition, Egyptian Christians are already second-class citizens in their own country. They suffer severe discrimination in many areas of life, such as in education and employment. And if the Muslim Brotherhood were to seize power, they could rapidly be subjected to a raft of even more humiliating regulations, designed to exclude and degrade them further. All Christian gatherings and church meetings have been cancelled for the third day in a row; a Barnabas Aid contact said believers were staying in their homes, adding that they were "praying hard" and "trusting God."