Looters destroy mummies in Egyptian Museum

[cbdo2007]

Looters destroy mummies in Egyptian Museum: official

CAIRO (Reuters) – Looters broke into the Egyptian Museum during anti-government protests late Friday and destroyed two Pharaonic mummies, Egypt's top archaeologist told state television.

The museum in central Cairo, which has the world's biggest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, is adjacent to the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party that protesters had earlier set ablaze. Flames were seen still pouring out of the party headquarters early Saturday.

"I felt deeply sorry today when I came this morning to the Egyptian Museum and found that some had tried to raid the museum by force last night," Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Saturday.

"Egyptian citizens tried to prevent them and were joined by the tourism police, but some (looters) managed to enter from above and they destroyed two of the mummies," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110129/sc_nm/us_egypt_museum

----------------------------------------------------------------
This museum also holds most of the King Tutankhamen collection.

[handmade34]

1. sad, sad, sad

[Turborama]

2. Can the word of Zahi Hawass be trusted?

I've looked him up and he seems a bit dodgy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahi_Hawass

Especially when http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4714871">Egyptians formed a human shield to protect the museum.

[malaise]

3. Ding ding

They should search his homes and hide outs.

[Turborama]

6. He told "state television", too

Yep, no political agenda there whatsoever.

[Enrique]

28. +1

state TV. Like Fox News under Bush.

[DebJ]

7. Haw ass n/t

[blondeatlast]

8. Yeah, my BS radar went off reading that headline too. nt

[enlightenment]

11. Seriously?

Geeze Louise.

What part of that Wiki article makes you think he's dodgy - because he isn't a fan of Israel? A lot of older Egyptians aren't, I would imagine. Because he dismisses Afrocentrism? A lot of scholars do. Because he doesn't think DNA is ready for prime-time when it comes to 5000 year old mummies? He's in good company there, too.

Throwing suspicion on the man's professional character based on a Wiki article is poor form. He may be a jerk in his private life, but he has done more for Egypt and antiquities than you can obviously imagine.

The OP article made it clear that there were people trying to protect the museum - a human shield isn't going to prevent a small number of looters from breaking in, which is what Hawass indicated was the case.

Before you throw out that kind of reasoning, try learning a little more about the man. Do you trust the Guardian? If so, read this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/nov/27/research.highereducation

[Turborama]

12. The "Vice Minister of Culture" part

Which wasn't mentioned in the OP.

He's part of the government. Don't you think he might have a political agenda going on "state TV" saying this?

BTW they weren't "looters" if they broke in and destroyed mummies, they were "vandals".

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Turborama]

20. I didn't say he has destroyed anything. I said it is likely he has an agenda

No need to get personal and start attacking me. As soon as I read your second sentence my interest in communicating with you vanished.

[former9thward]

32. It sems the posters attacking Hawass have the agenda.

Looters could have easily got into the Museum before it was protected. Maybe that why it was protected because the protesters knew looters had been in there. Since you have called Hawass "dodgy" what is your agenda? Do you think Obama would have had a "dodgy" person give him personal tours when he was in Cairo? I guess the American authorities did not have the great wealth of information about Hawass that you have.

[Turborama]

33. Nothing was stolen. Therefore it was *vandalism* and nothing was "looted" as he described.

No need to start getting personal with me.

[roguevalley]

24. he's retrieved Egypt's treasure from all over the world. He's a

sincere man about their heritage and finding and protecting it.

[somone]

15. Exactly

[Odin2005]

31. Zahi is an attention whore.

Every time he appears on some show on Ancient Egypt it seems like he likes to listen to himself speak.

[underpants]

4. It was the looters? I read yesterday that the museum was secured

maybe they shouldn't have sent the security forces out to attack the people.

[slackmaster]

5. Don't call them looters. They're protesters!

:sarcasm:

[eleny]

9. The King Tutankhamun exhibit is traveling now

http://www.kingtut.org/home

So at least part of it is safely on the road.

[Occulus]

10. HOLD on a second

"some (looters) managed to enter from above"

And how might they have gotten up there, hmm? The Museum is taller than its surrounding buildings and seems to have its own grounds surrounding it, besides.

Something here doesn't pass the smell test. Those were Egyptian national treasures; I simply can't imagine a popular uprising would wantonly destroy such a thing. It would be like Obama supporters destroying Monticello in 2008.

Something else is going on here. Revenge for burning the building, maybe? Low, crude way to do it if so...

[Turborama]

13. Yep, that's the gaping hole in his story

How would they descend from above and why would they destroy mummies? That's not "looting", it's "vandalism".

Also a representative of the regime was on AJE just now going on about the "looting". Seems like a memo has gone out.

[underpants]

18. The top story on DU homepage -Egyptians form human shield to protect museum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4714871

Yes this sounds like an inside top-down job. It wouldn't surprise me if nothing had actually happened.

[snooper2]

29. Um, on Al Jazeera they showed film from inside..

a number of display cases busted up and some artifacts laying broken on the floor. Heavy military presence patrolling inside and outside the museum now...

[JCMach1]

14. Hawass has been a suck-up to Mubarak (and everyone else) for years...

Someone fire this media whore already.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

16. Never been a fan of Hawass........

I always thought his archaeology was a bit suspect as well.

[somone]

17. A valuable ancient "statue" under the custody of Hawass was stolen from Giza

says Wiki

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. Arrrggh!

[formercia]

22. It was probably the security forces trying to discredit the protesters.

That's the only explanation I can come up with at the moment.

[struggle4progress]

23. Egyptian Museum safe from looters but still threatened by fire engulfing neighbouring building

By Maggie Hyde (CP) – 7 minutes ago

CAIRO — ... The ruling party headquarters building next door to the museum was still in flames and billowing black smoke into the sky on Saturday, a day after protesters torched it during mass anti-government demonstrations.

"What scares me is that if this building is destroyed, it will fall over the museum," antiquities boss Zahi Hawass said as he watched fire trucks try to extinguish the blaze in the NDP headquarters ...

Before the army arrived, young Egyptians — some armed with truncheons grabbed off the police — created a human chain at the museum's front gate to prevent looters from making off with any of its priceless artifacts.

"They managed to stop them," Hawass said. He added that the would-be looters only managed to vandalize two mummies, ripping their heads off. They also cleared out the museum gift shop ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jltiUv0XPnEnWrQOQKh5QQTLbFjg?docId=5793584

[cbdo2007]

25. It's ok, they may just get buried for another few thousand years.

This kind of thing is really senseless and sad.

[originalpckelly]

26. Um, why?

This sounds like bullshit, because there is absolutely no reason to do this, right?

[lonestarnot]

27. By whom? Better question.

[Odin2005]

30. POLICE THUGS were doing the looting to make the protester look bad!