Not only the Copts, but also our 300,000 Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters in Egypt suffer sporadic persecution, discrimination, and harassment, and as we see so often, frequently Egyptian officials do little or nothing to alleviate their plight.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Egypt, see here.
“Temporary church building set on fire in Upper Egypt,” Christian Solidarity Worldwide, January 11, 2024:
A church in Upper Egypt was destroyed after being set on fire by a local mob early in the morning of 6 January.
The incident took place in the village of Misha’at Zaafaranah in Abou Qarqas in Minya Province, where local Christians have been using the temporary church building as a place of worship for four months after submitting all the documents required to obtain a permit. The structure that was set on fire had been erected within the brick boundaries of land belonging to the church after they received no objection from security services.
Local police are said to have responded to the attack quickly to prevent further escalation.
A source told CSW: ‘It is worrying that some Muslim extremists are not only protesting against and attacking new churches, but also attacking newly-built or under construction houses belonging to Christians if they suspect that such properties might be used for any form of worship, and sometimes intimidating and threatening Christians to prevent them from selling their properties to anyone who is not a local resident.’
A similar incident took place in the village of Beni Khyar in Abou Qarqas in November 2023 when a mob attacked a Christian man and burned down his house which was under construction.
On 18 December, in another incident, an extremist mob attacked a church building site as well as Christian homes and properties in Al-Azeeb village in Samalout, Minya Province, despite the fact that the Christians had a permit to build a church….
