Author:
Publication: BBC News
Date: March 2, 2010
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8542326.stm
Hundreds of Iraqi Christians have taken part
in protests calling for government action after a spate of killings.
At least eight Christians have been killed
in the past two weeks in the volatile northern city of Mosul.
The killings prompted an appeal by Pope Benedict
on Sunday for Iraqi authorities to protect vulnerable religious minorities.
The UN says more than 680 Christian families
have fled Mosul since the recent attacks.
Sunday's protests took place in the town of
Hamdaniyah, 35km (22 miles) east of Mosul, and also in the capital, Baghdad.
Marchers in Hamdaniyah, many carrying olive
branches, were led by priests including the second-most-senior Chaldean bishop,
Shlemon Warduni.
"The government has done nothing so far,"
he said, calling on the US, UN and EU to "defend the rights of Christians
in Mosul".
In Baghdad, a smaller number of protesters
carried Iraqi flags and shouted "stop the killing of Christians",
at the gathering in Ferdus Square.
The BBC's Hugh Sykes, in Baghdad, says Islamic
militants associate Christians with what they regard as "crusaders"
- the US-led forces that invaded Iraq in 2003.
The recent killings were only the latest in
a list of violent attacks on Christians in Iraq.
In 2004, five Christian churches in Baghdad
were bombed.
Christians - and Christian priests - have
been kidnapped, murdered, and maimed.
Christian businesses - often sellers of alcohol
- have also been bombed and burned.
Two years ago, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop
of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped and murdered.
Most of Iraq's estimated 700,000 Christians
are Chaldeans - Catholics who are autonomous from Rome but recognise the Pope's
authority.
In his address on Sunday, the Pope said: "I
appeal to the civil authorities to complete every effort to give security
again to the population, and in particular, to the most vulnerable religious
minorities."
The latest murders come ahead of Iraq's parliamentary
election on 7 March.
