Coptic youth say Church must withdraw
Nader Shukry
Under the slogan “A constitution for all Egyptians”, Coptic activists
joined the Maspero Youth Union (MYU) today in holding a demonstration at
the grounds of the St Mark’s Cathedral in Abassiya, Cairo. The purpose
was to call upon the Church to withdraw its representatives in the
constituent assembly that is currently writing Egypt’s new constitution.
According to the MYU’s
Andrawus Eweida, coordinator-general of the union, the efforts within
the constituent assembly to write an Islamist constitution give rise to
very little hope that Egypt may be getting a democratic constitution.
The representatives of Church, Eweida said, have not been able to stand
to this tide. Their presence on the assembly panel, he said, would only
serve to lend legitimacy to an Islamist constitution.
MYU
media committee head, Hany Abu-Leila, said that the Islamist-dominated
constituent assembly appears to be seeking to transform Egypt into an
Islamist country that would fit within their global project for an
Islamic caliphate. The constitution now being written, he said, promises
to represent various sectors of Egyptians very poorly or not at all.
For their part, Copts Unfettered and the Coalition of Egypt’s Copts
refrained from participation in the demonstration which, according to
the Coalition’s Fady Youssef, was a move hostile to the Church. He
explained they preferred to talk the matter over with the Church
leaders, and that they were already in the process of discussing the
matter with the acting patriarch Anba Pachomeus.
WATANI International
27 July 2012
Nader Shukry
Under the slogan “A constitution for all Egyptians”, Coptic activists joined the Maspero Youth Union (MYU) today in holding a demonstration at the grounds of the St Mark’s Cathedral in Abassiya, Cairo. The purpose was to call upon the Church to withdraw its representatives in the constituent assembly that is currently writing Egypt’s new constitution.
According to the MYU’s Andrawus Eweida, coordinator-general of the union, the efforts within the constituent assembly to write an Islamist constitution give rise to very little hope that Egypt may be getting a democratic constitution. The representatives of Church, Eweida said, have not been able to stand to this tide. Their presence on the assembly panel, he said, would only serve to lend legitimacy to an Islamist constitution.
MYU media committee head, Hany Abu-Leila, said that the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly appears to be seeking to transform Egypt into an Islamist country that would fit within their global project for an Islamic caliphate. The constitution now being written, he said, promises to represent various sectors of Egyptians very poorly or not at all.
For their part, Copts Unfettered and the Coalition of Egypt’s Copts refrained from participation in the demonstration which, according to the Coalition’s Fady Youssef, was a move hostile to the Church. He explained they preferred to talk the matter over with the Church leaders, and that they were already in the process of discussing the matter with the acting patriarch Anba Pachomeus.
WATANI International
27 July 2012
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