"200 Coptic Christians rally in Nashville, call for peace in Egypt," by Bob Smietana for The Tennessean, August 19:
More than 200 Coptic Christians demonstrated in downtown Nashville, calling for an end to the violence in Egypt.
Many chanted “Obama, Obama, don’t you care? Christian blood is everywhere,” and “Pray for Egypt” while waiving Egyptian flags.
Others, like Anour Fares, held homemade signs with messages like “We are against Muslim Brotherhood.”
Amany Shahata, who has lived in the United States for 16 years, said she feared for Christians living in Egypt, whose churches had been burned down in recent days. She and other protesters blamed the Muslim Brotherhood.
“What is terrorism, but being afraid to go out of your house because someone will attack you,” she said. “... We can build churches anywhere but in our own country.”
At one point demonstrators lined both sides of First Avenue and called out slogans as cars went by. They shouted “eid wahda,” an Egyptian phrase that translates as “one hand,” meaning that the Egyptian people, both Christians and Muslims, were united with the army against terrorism, which they blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Abram Thabet said that he hopes the Obama administration will stand by the Egyptian government. He said that he fled Cairo two years ago with his family because he feared persecution.
“The Christians in Egypt are paying a very high price,” he said. “I couldn’t keep my children safe.”...
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