Some 200 Muslim youth of Bodroman village in Menya staged protests on Wednesday against a local church renovating its steeple. They called the renovation “provocative.”
Priest Andraus Abdullah said the church received permission from the security services to do the renovations. “The steeple is 50 years old,” he said. “We had to renovate it before it collapses.”
“We saw the youngsters of the village crowd in front of the church,” Abdullah said. “They told the workers to stop what they were doing because it provoked them.”
“Then they started to throw stones at us, forcing us to hide inside the church till the mayor showed up,” he added.
Three people were injured in the clashes that erupted between the protestors and the workers.
Mayor Saber Moussa said, “They are a bunch of flops, those kids. These renovations wouldn’t harm them in any way.”
The prosecutor charged 21 youths with attempting to damage property and ordered their detention.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
