Christians in Egypt Attacked By Muslims Over Church Construction
Coptic Christians in the village of Al Our, Egypt, were attacked by Muslims over a church being constructed to honor those who were beheaded by the militant ISIS group in Libya last month.
Young Muslims gathered at the Minya governorate last Friday and demonstrated in front the church, opposing the project.
Later in the night, Daily News Egypt reported, militants threw Molotov cocktails at the church that injured seven and burned a car.
"The police came, but after the attack," said Mina Abdelmalak, a Coptic Christian living in Washington who is in close contact with the witnesses to the events in Al Our. "There were already cars on fire. People had been bloodied. Stones and bricks had been thrown," Abdelmalak told Fox News.
The construction of the church was planned last February when Copts in Al Our pushed for it to honor the 20 Coptic Egyptian workers who were beheaded by the ISIS in Libya. Thirteen of those killed came from the village.
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi agreed to the construction of the church, Daily News Egypt reported.
Coptic residents purchased the land and started the construction of the church, which drew protests from Muslims, who were not happy with the project.
After the attack, Minya's governor called for a meeting with Coptic and Muslim residents and agreed that the church's location will have to be moved.
Copts comprise 10 percent of Egypt's 88 million population, Fox News said.
"This is a classic issue in Egypt," said Abdelmalak. "Even after you struggle to get permission from the president to build a church, you still have to face the mob, which rejects the idea of having a church built in their neighborhood."
Photos of those injured in the village attack were uploaded on Facebook by a Coptic account holder.
"I fear that the security [services] will as usual issue a report saying that the situation in the village [is so bad] that [they] will not [now] allow us to build a new church," the Coptic who posted the pictures in Facebook wrote.
The relocation of the church's site was an imposition on the Copts. "This has been effectively imposed on the Coptic residents," Abdelmalak said. "Dictates to the Christian community are always presented as agreements."
