A group of 10 Maronite men assaulted Baptist Pastor Raymond Abou-Mekhael and another church member at 6:30 p.m. as they were on their way to retrieve items from their parked cars. The Maronites broke the unidentified church member’s rib and both men’s glasses, smashed the car windows and then dumped the two men inside before joining another group of 10 in attacking the church building.
“Police were at the church watching everything,” Abou-Mekhael, 35, told Compass. “They even advised the attackers on what to steal and vandalize.”
Abou-Mekhael said that the men were led by Ajaltoun Mayor Khalil Tabet, who had the church officially sealed off with “red wax” immediately after the attack so that no one could enter the building.
In an August 6 newspaper article entitled, “No Justification for Building a Baptist Church in a Region whose Overwhelming Majority is Maronite,” the local Maronite bishop attacked the Baptist church’s right to exist.
The article goes into helpful detail on the issues involved.
Read Previous Post