As the commemorative mass for the 21 Christians beheaded by ISIS in Libya was held on the 40th day after their deaths in the village of Al Our in the Minya region of Upper Egypt this past Friday, a mob identified by witnesses as Muslim Brotherhood protestors attacked the home of one of the martyr’s families, set fire to the car of one of the mourners, and later lobbed molotov cocktails at the site of the church being constructed in their memory. Al Our village was the home of 13 of the Egyptian Coptic martyrs.
Daily News Egypt reports:
On Friday, scores of mostly young Muslims gathered in the Minya governorate after midday prayer, demonstrating in front of a church under construction there. They chanted that there is no way the church would be built.
After a while, the crowd vanished, but later in the night a smaller number of anonymous militants attacked the church with Molotov cocktails. In the attack, seven people were injured, and one car was left burning.
In February, Copts in Minya’s Our Village called for a church to be established in the village honouring 20 Coptic Egyptian workers beheaded in Libya. They died at the hands of Islamic State militants in Libya, according to religious freedoms researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) Ishak Ibrahim.
Thirteen of the beheaded Coptic workers were from the village. Ibrahim told Daily News Egypt that, during their funeral, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi agreed for the church to be built.
Coptic residents bought land and started the church’s construction, sparking protests from Muslim residents who were angered by the church. The Muslim residents were unhappy at the church’s proposed presence and its position at the entrance to the village.
A report yesterday by Al-Masry Al-Youm (AR) stated that the mob attacked the home of one of the martyr’s families with bricks and stones, and that a car belonging to a mourner who had traveled to the village for the memorial mass was set on fire. The article cited witnesses identifying the mob participants as members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and that seven protesters had been arrested.
Protesters surround Virgin Mary Church, set fire to car, & attempt to storm home to stop construction of Minya Church http://t.co/2dkinX6CMR
— إشهد | Eshhad (@Eshhad_) March 27, 2015
Violence mounts against #Copts in Al-Galaa Village in Samalout, Minya after plans to construct new Church http://t.co/AJrhupwqsl #egypt
— إشهد | Eshhad (@Eshhad_) March 28, 2015
13 of the Copts beheaded in Libya were from the same village in Minya. A church is being built there now and it was attacked last night.
— Basil El-Dabh | باسل الضبع (@basildabh) March 28, 2015
In Al Our, where 13 of Coptic Christians killed by ISIS in Libya were from @elijahzarwan Church set on fire in Minya: http://t.co/pK8KgV1k6w
— betsy hiel (@betsy_hiel) March 28, 2015
7 ppl were arrested in Menya clash with Copts. They attempted to burn home of a Copt slaughtered in Libya & attempt 2 burnt car of mourner.
— خالتى نزيهة (@7thousandyears) March 28, 2015
Some youth in Samaloot, Minya, demonstrated agnst Sisi's decision to build a church for Libya's martyrs & resulted in rampage.
— خالتى نزيهة (@7thousandyears) March 28, 2015
Following the murder of the 21 Christians by ISIS in Libya, senior government officials, including the prime minister, flocked to the village to give their condolences, and announced that that “the Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Country of al-‘Our” would be built in their honor at state expense with the permission of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
And yet after this weekend’s attacks, the Coptic community in Al Our were forced by local authorities into an extra-judicial Islamic “reconciliation” meeting, where it was “agreed” that the church would be relocated, submitting to the violent protesters’ demands, and that the seven arrested protesters would be freed, prompting criticism on Twitter:
Egyptian government resorts to reconciliation session in Al Our village after attack on Church https://t.co/dAOyeEkOB0 No accountability
— Samuel Tadros (@Samueltadros) March 29, 2015
#ISIS kills 21 #Copts. Their neighbors attack the Church to built in their honor. Government splits difference between attacker & victim
— salamamoussa (@salamamoussa) March 29, 2015
Reconciliation session in Aour leads to moving proposed construction site of church & freeing of 7 accused of clashes. #egypt #sectarianism
— Mai El-Sadany (@maitelsadany) March 29, 2015
#Egypt: Violent protesters attack church to stop construction of new church. Reconcil session. Church location moved & protesters acquitted.
— Mai El-Sadany (@maitelsadany) March 29, 2015
Instead of providing justice, reconciliation sessions like yesterday reward violent protesters & make the minorities compromise. #egypt
— Mai El-Sadany (@maitelsadany) March 29, 2015
Minority communities complain that the “reconciliation” meetings in Egypt almost always result in minorities having to make concessions while Muslim offenders are freed without having to face any judicial proceedings, as appears true in the present case.
Non-Muslims also complain about the active discrimination built into the Egyptian constitution stemming from the Ottoman era that prohibits the construction of any new church building, or even the repair of existing buildings, without a presidential decree.
Islamist groups use this constitutional provision to instigate sectarian attacks, and continue to use it in several cases to prevent the rebuilding of churches burned down or damaged by the Muslim Brotherhood across the country in August 2013 after the government’s dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood protests in Cairo.
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