Coptic Christians Pray in Tahrir Square as Non-Christians Form Shield Around Them

From Wall Street Journal (2/6/2010):

Egyptians streamed into Tahrir Square for a 13th day of protests Sunday, one punctuated by a movie star, a bride and groom, and public displays of unity between the country's Muslims and Christians.

Near the northern end of the square, site of brutal fighting midweek between supporters and opponents of the regime, a group of Muslim scholars from the prestigious university at Al-Azhar joined a contingent of Coptic Christians who marched holding up a large wooden crucifix while the Azhar clergy held up an open Quran.

They trotted through the square, mixing chants of interfaith unity and the now-trademark anti-Mubarak slogans. At one point, an Azhar scholar embraced a Coptic marcher and kissed him on the cheek.

The article has two videos from Reuters embedded. The first one reports that as these Coptic Christians prayed, the non-Christian/Muslim protesters gathered around them to form a human shield to protect them, just like the non-Muslim/Christian protesters did for the Muslim protesters as they prayed.

Meanwhile, the supposedly "anti-government, anti-Mubarak, radical Islamic fundamentalism" movement of Muslim Brotherhood has been negotiating with the Mubarak/Suleiman government for possible power-share.

I think Mr. Suleiman, the head spook of Egypt with strong ties to intelligence communities in the US and Israel, will find Muslim Brotherhood very useful.

Watch out, Egyptians... Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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