Coptic church attacked in Upper Egypt

A mob attacked a Coptic church building in the village of Tal Al-Quiblya, in Minya Province in Upper Egypt on 8 July.

According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), dozens of Muslim residents, mainly women, children and teenagers, threw stones at the local church building while shouting sectarian and hateful insults. Several Christians were injured, and local sources also reported damage to the building and the priest’s car.

The police were deployed quickly and stabilised the situation after arresting four Christian men who were assaulted by members of the mob, and an unknown number of Muslims.

The EIPR reports that for many years Tal Al-Quiblya did not have a church, and that ‘to address this situation, Christian residents began organising prayers and regular masses in their homes on a rotating basis. However, the varying distances involved in traveling to different homes affected some residents’ ability to attend regularly. Consequently, the villagers decided to designate an existing building located amidst their homes as a church—a move made with the knowledge of both security authorities and the village’s Muslim residents.’

The EIPR criticised the way the local authorities have handled the ongoing sectarian tensions in the village: ‘The attacks occurred despite the fact that the church priest, Father Pavlos Kamal, had notified security authorities about incitement and harassment during previous religious services—yet the authorities failed to intervene pre-emptively to prevent the attacks.’

The EIPR reported that the four Christian men were released on 10 July after they withdrew their complaint against their attackers.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW is highly concerned at this latest attack on a Christian community in Upper Egypt, and particularly at the continuing failure of the local police to act pre-emptively. In addition, the fact that four victims of violence were detained and were only released upon withdrawing their complaint against their assailants is a lamentable indication of an abiding inequality before the law. We call on local and state authorities to ensure that justice is served, and urge the Egyptian government to increase efforts to crack down on those responsible for the dangerous rhetoric and hate speech that emboldens extremists and mob groups to attack Christians with impunity.’