September 17, 2012
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Four men climbed over the walls of the church , smashed
three icons in the church courtyard and burned Greek and
Cypriot flags, a member of the congregation told the Libya
Herald, but were unable to get into the locked church
itself. They tried to set fire to the wooden frames of the
icons but failed.
According to another member of the congregation, the
priest who lives next door to the church was awakened at
around 00:30 hrs by the noise. Alerted to his presence,
the four men fled the scene.
The police were called but so far have made no
arrests.
The church is around the corner from the Othman Pasha
madrassa which was attacked on 29 August by Salfists. Some
thirty graves were dug up in the adjoining small cemetery
and the remains removed.
This is the second time this year the Greek Church has
been targeted. On 7 May an unknown assailant fired shots
at the church, narrowly missing the priest as he opened
the door in the morning.
Ten years ago, in 2002, the church was also broken into
and precious items stolen.
The Republic of Cyprus currently holds the presidency of the European Union, an Orthodox Christian nation. Protests are being made to the foreign affairs commissioner of the EU Catherine Ashton who is being asked to contact the Libyan government to protect the Orthodox community from attacks.
