Arab Spring has the Winter Chills

How about the whole “Arab Spring”? Back in January and February liberals were saying that the fall of Mubarak in Egypt would be a watershed moment in the Middle East. Peace would break out everywhere and the desert would suddenly be resplendent with wild flowers.

Into the vacuum has come the Muslim Brotherhood. And now comes the heavy hand of Islamic extremism.

Flames lit up downtown Cairo, where massive clashes raged Sunday, drawing Christians angry over a recent church attack, Muslim and Egyptian security forces. At least 24 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the worst sectarian violence since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.

The rioting lasted late into the night, bringing out a deployment of more than 1,000 security forces and armored vehicles to defend the state television building along the Nile, where the trouble began. The military clamped a curfew on the area until 7 a.m.

…

At one point, an armored security van sped into the crowd, striking a half-dozen protesters and throwing some into the air. Protesters retaliated by setting fire to military vehicles, a bus and private cars, sending flames rising in the night sky.

After midnight, mobs roamed downtown streets, attacking cars they suspected had Christian passengers. In many areas, there was no visible police or army presence to confront or stop them. (Source: Yahoo News)

I find it interesting this story did not mention that most of those killed were Christians, many killed when the vehicle ran up on the sidewalk.

The Christian protesters said their demonstration began as a peaceful attempt to sit in at the television building. But then, they said, they came under stack by thugs in plainclothes who rained stones down on them and fired pellets.

“The protest was peaceful. We wanted to hold a sit-in, as usual,” said Essam Khalili, a protester wearing a white shirt with a cross on it. “Thugs attacked us and the military vehicle jumped over a sidewalk and ran over at least 20 people. I saw them.”

Wael Roufail, another protester, corroborated the account. “I saw the vehicle running over the protesters. They opened fire at us,” he said.

Khalili said protesters set fire to army vehicles when the saw them hitting the protesters.

Ahmed Yahia, a Muslim resident who lives near the TV building, said he saw the military vehicle plow into protesters. “I saw a man’s head split into two halves and a second body flattened when the armored vehicle ran over it. When some Muslims saw the blood they joined the Christians against the army,” he said. (Source: Yahoo News)

Anyone care to take a stab at who might be behind the plain clothes thugs? While no one comes and says it was the Muslim Brotherhood, it sounds like stuff they have done in the past. Who knows. But for the army to attack the Christians with complete disregard for life is inexcusable. I hope someone is held accountable, but I am not going to hold my breath.