American anti-Muslim wingnuts are, needless to say, having a field day over plans to build a mosque and community centre two block away from Ground Zero.
But at a recent protest organised by SIOA (‘Stop the Islamization of America’), there was an exquisite moment of irony. Two arabic-speaking men, who were set upon by the protestors and had to be rescued by the NYPD, turned out to be Egyptian Christians – who’d come to join the anti-Muslim protest.
Full details from Mike Kelly:
At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.
“Go home,” several shouted from the crowd.
“Get out,” others shouted.
In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.
“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.
But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.
“I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here,” a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.
