Parts of unidentified mummies are seen damaged on the floor of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt.
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Soldiers arrest 50 men going after antiquities
Soldiers detained about 50 men trying to break into the Egyptian National Museum in a fresh attempt to loot some of the country’s archaeological treasures, the military said Monday.
Snipers were stationed on the museum roof, and dozens of troops patrolled the grounds amid fears that the chaos sweeping Cairo could engulf the country’s heritage. Some of the most intense anti-government protests in the past week happened nearby. MORE
ISLAMIZATION WATCH
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The group of nine men broke into the Egyptian Museum, which is on the edge of Tahrir Square, the epicentre of protests, searching for gold.
They broke into ten cases to take figurines. When they discovered that the figures did not contain gold, they dropped them and the items broke. They then seized two skulls of the 2,000-year-old mummies and fled.
Dr Zahi Hawass, the director of the museum, said: "Demonstrators in collaboration with security forces stopped the thieves and returned the relics to the museum – but they were already damaged. Only their heads were intact."
Egyptologists described the smashing of the irreplaceable artefacts as "devastating".
"It's is absolutely appalling," said Robert Connolly, an anthropologist and Egyptologist from the University of Liverpool. "If Egyptians are looting their own heritage then it is truly terrible. [..]
Telegraph
They broke into ten cases to take figurines. When they discovered that the figures did not contain gold, they dropped them and the items broke. They then seized two skulls of the 2,000-year-old mummies and fled.
Dr Zahi Hawass, the director of the museum, said: "Demonstrators in collaboration with security forces stopped the thieves and returned the relics to the museum – but they were already damaged. Only their heads were intact."
Egyptologists described the smashing of the irreplaceable artefacts as "devastating".
"It's is absolutely appalling," said Robert Connolly, an anthropologist and Egyptologist from the University of Liverpool. "If Egyptians are looting their own heritage then it is truly terrible. [..]
Telegraph
