EUROPE on edge for Christmas after........
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Europe on edge for Christmas after string of attacks in 2016
Security measures were heightened across Europe and beyond as Christians prepared to celebrate Christmas Eve in the shadow of terrorism. The German capital Berlin was particularly on edge after last week's truck attack.
Security was tight at many major European churches and cathedrals as worshippers gathered to celebrate mass on Christmas Eve. In addition to heightened security across Germany, where last Monday's attack in Berlin cast a long shadow over Christmas celebrations, other cities also beefed up security to ensure peaceful celebrations.
In France, 91,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers were deployed to guard public spaces including churches and markets. Italian police were also out in force, with concrete barricades were erected around the historic Piazza del Duomo at Milan's cathedral.
Worshippers congregating at Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church still feel raw after last week's attack, which killed 12
Meanwhile a spokesman for the Berlin police said that there would be an increased presence of both uniformed and plainclothes police officers on the streets of the German capital over the Christmas holidays as well. Several hundred people attended Christmas Eve Mass at Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church – a mere stone's throw away from the site of the Berlin Christmas market attack on December 19.
Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri reportedly driven a truck into the Christmas market that evening resulting in 12 casualties and almost 50 wounded. The so-called "Islamic State" movement (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, after Amri had pledged his allegiance to the head of the group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
With 12 candles representing the fatalities at the church altar, the Lutheran church's residing bishop Ulrike Trautwein called on the congregation to refuse to answer recent events with hatred: "We are feeling stronger this time what Christmas means. We wish nothing at this place, at this location more than: Lord, give us your peace," she said.
Religious leaders echo messages of hope
Other churches throughout Germany shared similar sentiments on Christmas Eve, as calls amassed to denounce terror and violence with messages of peace.
Pope Francis is expected to deliver a message of hope to 1.2 billion Christians in the world, but has also been known to highlight social issues during mass
The chairman of the Council of Lutheran Churches in Germany (EKD), Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, said that Christmas provided an opportunity to counter the general sense of nervousness and other petulance.
The German cardinal of the Catholic Church and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference Reinhard Marx meanwhile wrote that the "forces of evil" would only prevail if people allowed terrorism to paralyze their spirits.
Meanwhile Aiman Mazyek, the head of the Central Council of Muslims, said that "we all, and religion in particular, represent reconciliation and are opposed to hate and violence."
Rome on high alert
Pope Francis meanwhile also started celebrating his Christmas Eve mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican - amid heavy security there. Following the truck attack in Berlin and the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice earlier in the year, freight vehicle access to Rome has been severely limited for the evening.
Aiman Mazyek, the head of Germany's Central Council of Muslims, said that all people of faith should stand up against violence and hate
Military vehicles have also been positioned at strategic points of access to the Vatican and more than 1,000 police officers and 2,000 military personnel have reportedly been deployed to the area to prevent any attempts at an attack in and around Rome. Visitors at St. Peter's Basilica will also have to undergo a security check before entering the basilica.
The Pope's mass will meanwhile be broadcast around the world, and usually features themes of social relevance. Some of the prayers during the annual service will be read in foreign languages - including Chinese, Arabic and Russian - as a sign representing the unifying nature of faith and the political themes of the present.
Christmas services in Israel took place under the shadow of the controversial UN resolution on settlements
The Pope is expected to highlight the ongoing war in Syria, while Aleppo's Catholic minority will gather to celebrate its first Christmas mass in five years at remains of the Old City's Saint Elias Cathedral. In neighboring Iraq, Christians will rather at the fire-scarred Mar Shimoni church in Bartalla near Mosul for the first service since the town was retaken from the "Islamic State," who had seized it in 2014.
On Christmas Day, Francis will deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" (To the City and The World) blessing to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica.
Happy Birthday, Jesus
Security was also tight across Israel, where Christmas coincides with the Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, this year. The religious festivities come one day after a controversial UN resolution effectively banning Israel from expanding its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem for Christmas at the West Bank town's Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born. In the northern Israeli city of Nazareth, believed to be Jesus' childhood home, more than 25,000 people took part in Christmas celebrations under heavy security precautions, police said.
Not a silent night
Despite these messages of hope and reconciliation, acts of violence and terror did, however not stop on Christmas Eve, as a blast ripped through a police car outside a Catholic church in the Philippines, wounding 13 people. The explosion was aimed at churchgoers attending Christmas Eve masses at the Shrine of Santo Nino in the town of Midsayap.
Christmas and Hannukah coincide to start on the same day this year, as worshippers across Israel and beyond prepare for several days of religious festivities
Authorities did not immediately comment on who was responsible for the blast. No group has claimed responsibility. The Philippines' government is involved in fighting several Muslim armed groups, particularly on the island of Mindanao, where the attack took place. Some of those groups have reportedly allegiance to IS.
Meanwhile a woman with dual French and Swiss nationality was reportedly kidnapped in Mali. There have been no claims of responsibility in that case; despite a peace agreement signed last year, regional jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda continue with an insurgency campaign in the North African nation.
ss/kl (dpa, AP, AFP, KNA, epd)
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