Masses cancelled and Catholic schools closed in Niger as Muslim protestors torch churches

Abigail Fryman Rouch
The Tablet
January 23, 2015

The bishops of Niger have cancelled Masses and shut Catholic schools, healthcare facilities and charity outreaches after Muslim protestors torched more than 40 churches across the country.

The protests were started as an angry response to the publication of the depiction of Muhammad on the cover of Charlie Hebdo magazine. The edition was the first since Islamic extremists in Paris massacred 12 people at the magazine’s offices in retaliation for earlier cartoons of Muhammad.

In a statement, Bishops Laurent Lompo, Ambroise Ouedraogo and Michel Cartatéguy said that suspending activities will allow them to pray and calmly consider “the painful events that we have had recently. We cordially thank all those who have expressed their solidarity at this difficult time.”

The archbishop of Niamey, Michel Cartatéguy, told Vatican Radio that despite all the support the Church had received, “We have to suspend all activities in Catholic missions and close our schools.”

In Niger there were reports of three deaths in the capital, Niamey, and another five in the second city, Zinder. The bodies of three of the dead were found in churches. More than 250 people in Zinder were forced to seek refuge at a military base. Christian properties across the country were targeted, including orphanages, pastors’ homes and church-run schools.

The archbishop went on: “The Christian community in Niger is still in a state of shock: Almost all the churches [of the diocese], 12 to 14 of them, were completely plundered. Nothing remains, they were totally burned.”

“Only the cathedral is still standing,” he said.

He also voiced concern that the inter-religious tensions were being whipped up by antagonists from outside the country. Those responsible for last weekend’s riots “are being manipulated from abroad, everything is being manipulated,” Archbishop Cartateguy said. “It’s obvious that the millions of copies of the Muhammad cartoons being distributed are saying to the people here that the Christians of the West are the ones who have done this!” the archbishop said.

Christians have accused the police of being slow in coming to their aid.

“Now there are people running throughout the streets asking, ‘Are you Allah is great or Alleluia?’ This means they are looking for Christians,” he warned.

Last weekend Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou appealed for calm in a speech on state television, adding: "Those who loot these places of worship, who desecrate them and kill their Christian compatriots ... have understood nothing of Islam.”