Cairo, Egypt, Nov 23, 2011 / 04:04 am
Egyptian police have “no right” to threaten the lives of those protesting peacefully in Tahrir square, Giza Bishop Antonios A. Mina says.
“Using violence against peaceful people is not acceptable,” the senior Coptic Catholic Bishop told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need on Nov. 22. “The authorities must explain their actions.”
Bishop Mina spoke from Egypt as the country's military government faced protests comparable to those that drove out former president Hosni Mubarak in February.
The latest protests in Cairo began Nov. 18 and have drawn tens of thousands of people into the streets. But at least 26 people have been killed, and hundreds wounded, during a government response that Bishop Mina said was needlessly violent.