A mob of more than 500 Muslims torched a church in after police had destroyed the roof.
The church, in the village of Qoto Baloso, Silte province, was burntdown on 29 November by Muslim students, accompanied by Muslim policeofficials. The students were shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“god is great”)and “jihad”.
Four days earlier, police had destroyed the roof of the buildingafter a court ruled that the church had been built without properauthorisation and therefore had to be demolished. More than 30 policeofficers were deployed to destroy the church, but in the face ofprotests from local Christians, they held back from demolishing therest of the building.
The judge who made the demolition order is a Muslim; both he and thepolice chief who tried to enforce it are reportedly known for theiranti-Christian bias.
One local Christian said:
All the government officials in the area are Muslims. The Islamicreligion has become the state religion in our region. The non-Muslimsin the area live and worship in fear.
The church was built on land that the Christian community has used toconduct ceremonies for over 60 years. The Supreme Court of the SouthNations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS) hadpreviously ruled in favour of the church when a Muslim businessmantried to claim ownership of the land.
The head of Silte Province police said they were investigating theburning of the church and seeking to determine who was responsible.
There are concerns about the growing Islamisation of and violence by Muslims against the Christian community. There havebeen a number of attacks this year, including the murder of churchworker Abraham Abera in April, and coordinated arson attacks on scores of churches and Christian homes in Jimma Zone the previous month.
source:
https://barnabasfund.org/UK/News/News-analysis/Hundreds-of-Muslims-burn-down-church-in-Ethiopia.html