11 January 2010
Islamists loot and burn protestant church in Algeria
Islamists looted and burned a Protestant church in Algeria, the congregation's leader said Monday, suggesting they were inspired by a recent wave of religious intolerance in the Arab and Muslim world.
The church - hosted in an apartment block in the city of Tizi Ouzou some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algiers, the Algerian capital - was ransacked and set ablaze on Saturday night, several Algerian newspapers said.
The independent El Watan daily published a picture of a smoldering pile of pulpits and desks that had been brought outside for destruction. It quoted the pastor of the local Pentecostal community, Mustapha Krireche, as saying worshippers fled the temple because local police had left a gathering of anti-Christian rioters unchecked.
The congregation was worshipping in the apartment block because it had not received official government approval to operate a church.
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