Más sobre la quema de iglesias y sobre los muertos que se han producido

Ya puse ayer unas fotos sobre cómo había quedado una iglesia de Paquistán.

Gateway Pundit tiene la historia:

The angry mob said that a Christian boy had desecrated a copy of the Koran:

Protesters ransacked two churches in the city, Salahuddin Haider, the Sindh government spokesman, told AFP. “They were trying to burn the churches but police dispersed the crowd,” he added. Haider said that trouble began after accusations were made that a Christian teenager had thrown pages of the Holy Quran in a dustbin. Protesters blocked roads by burning tyres, he said, adding that paramilitary troops had been called.

AP Adds: One man was injured when police fired tear gas to disperse around 400 people who attacked the church, said Akbar Arain, the local police chief. Arain did not say what injuries the man suffered or how serious they are. There were no worshippers in the church and a private security guard fled the building when it was attacked, said Aftab Hale Pota, chief of Sukkur district police.

SM Wajih adds: Police resorted to teargas and aerial firing to disperse a mob, which forced traders to shut down shops, following reports of alleged ‘desecration’ of a copy of the Holy Quran by a Christian man from Freek Hill in the C Section Police precincts in Sukkur on Sunday. More than 100 people were arrested on charges of damaging public property, including a church and schools. Later, Rangers were called in who help bring the situation under control.

The Pakistani Chrisitian says that the two churches were set on fire and that Christians were beaten all in the presence of police.

A Pakistani Christian removes damaged furniture from a ransacked church in Sukkur, 480 km (300 miles) from Karachi, February 20, 2006. Police have charged 23 people with setting fire to two Christian churches during protests in southern Pakistan over desecration of the Muslim holy book, the Koran. (REUTERS/Mohammad Ali)

All Pakistan Minorities Alliance Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti said that besides the attacks on St Xavier Church and St Mary’s Catholic Church, the mobs have ransacked pastoral residences, Holy Bibles and other Holy books.

Average Gay Joe tiene una reflexión interesante al respecto:

You know,normally I try and be a ‘tolerant’ fellow but how am I to view people that burn churches down on the rumor a “Christian teenager had thrown pages of the Holy Quran in a dustbin”? People which riot and murder others over friggin’ cartoons? Charming folks which celebrate kidnappings, tortures, be-headings, homicide bombings, etc., all in the name of God? We used to call such people “savages” but I suppose that’s not very politically-correct nowadays. Yet I must say I’m a bit stumped as to what else to say about them…

Pero es que también en Nigeria se han quemado iglesias (las que quedan después de la demolición que ordena el gobierno islámico) y han muerto personas: 45 para ser más exactos:

Police reports said 42 people have been arrested in the city of Maiduguri, capital city of Borneo state and the scene of Saturday’s riots. Soldiers have been deployed amid fears that rioters could regroup or strike in another city in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north.

“Figures of arrests have been contradictory. While some said 30 were arrested, others put the figure at close to 100. A Christian policeman and a pastor are hiding in our house now,” he said.

“We are lucky that our landlord, an indigenous ethnic Kanuri, is a liberal Muslim and chose to still accommodate us,” he added.

Most of the victims of Saturday’s violence were Christians or other non-Muslims.

Rioters razed 18 churches during the protests and at least 17 houses were set alight. A Catholic priest was among the victims. “We lost one priest to the riot. His name is the Reverend Father Michael Ejere. He was killed and burnt,” Reverend Father Peter Maidugu told AFP from the city of Maiduguri.

De Gateway Pundit:

“One group threw a tyre around one man, poured gas on him and set him ablaze.”
-BBC-

Un grupo tiró una rueda alrededor de un hombre, le roció con gas y le prendieron fuego…

The AP is reporting that 15 churches were burned in the mainly Muslim region.

The rioting Muslims stormed through the streets for three hours before police restored order:

It was the first major protest to erupt over the issue in Africa’s most populous nation. An Associated Press reporter saw mobs of Muslim protesters swarm through the city center with machetes, sticks and iron rods. One group threw a tire around a man, poured gas on him and set him ablaze…

Thousands of rioters burned 15 churches in Maiduguri in a three-hour rampage before troops and police reinforcements restored order, Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said. Iwendi said security forces arrested dozens of people in the city about 1,000 miles northeast of the capital, Lagos.

Chima Ezeoke, a Christian Maiduguri resident, said protesters attacked and looted shops owned by minority Christians, most of them with origins in the country’s south.

“Most of the dead were Christians beaten to death on the streets by the rioters,” Ezeoke said.[...]

Y como era de esperar, el Vaticano condena el silencio diplomático sobre la violencia desatada por las caricaturas.

Más sobre Paquistán en The Astute Blogger, Ravenscroft Dog Farm.

Más sobre Nigeria en The Astute Blogger, Prarie Pundit, Clark Mountain Musings, Michelle Malkin (cronología de la persecución cristiana en Nigeria).