Egyptian Christians call for religious freedom in wake of violent persecution

In an interview yesterday with Vatican Radio following the horrible military violence against Coptic Christians in Cairo that left 35 Christians dead and more than 300 Christians wounded, the Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishop, Rafic Greiche, said:

At the time of the old regime, of Mubarak, there were also churches being burned and so on but the security services always used to take care of us. Now, even the government does not give a damn about what is happening.

He also enumerated three simple demands the Christians of Egypt have:

1. the government of Prime Minister Essam has to go
2. Christians must be allowed to build churches
3. a law against discrimination that would protect Christians

These demands seem simple enough, but the fruits of the Arab Spring on which so many had placed their hopes seem to be quite different.