Egyptian police have arrested 15 people in connection with an arson attack on houses of Coptic Christians in Upper Egypt over the weekend, according to a security source.
On Saturday, the 15 defendants allegedly burned five Christian Coptic homes in Abou Yacoub village in Minya after hearing rumors that a church was being built in the area. Police arrested the suspects hours after the arson happened, Al-Ahram reports.
This is not the first time that locals have attacked Copts and torched their property. Last month, villagers set fire to a building under construction in Samalout which they believe was a church. In May, a mob stripped an elderly Coptic woman and attacked Christian homes over her son’s alleged affair with a Muslim woman.
Earlier this month, a stray bullet hit an Orthodox Christian nun from Mar Girgis Monastery in Old Cairo, killing her. After that, a man and his son were reportedly murder in a “revenge attack.” In the village of Karm el Loofy, a kindergarten managed by Christians in Minya was also torched. A Coptic Orthodox priest from St. George Church was killed in Al Arish, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took responsibility for the murder. …show more content…
Archbishop Anba Makarios said one such attack occurs every 10 days on the average, Christian Today relays.
While tension between Christians and Muslims in Egypt has always been present, the situation worsened after the Arab Spring in 2011. Sectarian violence has seen a significant increase in the last few months, causing concern among the roughly nine million Christians in the majority Sunni Muslim
On Saturday, the 15 defendants allegedly burned five Christian Coptic homes in Abou Yacoub village in Minya after hearing rumors that a church was being built in the area. Police arrested the suspects hours after the arson happened, Al-Ahram reports.
This is not the first time that locals have attacked Copts and torched their property. Last month, villagers set fire to a building under construction in Samalout which they believe was a church. In May, a mob stripped an elderly Coptic woman and attacked Christian homes over her son’s alleged affair with a Muslim woman.
Earlier this month, a stray bullet hit an Orthodox Christian nun from Mar Girgis Monastery in Old Cairo, killing her. After that, a man and his son were reportedly murder in a “revenge attack.” In the village of Karm el Loofy, a kindergarten managed by Christians in Minya was also torched. A Coptic Orthodox priest from St. George Church was killed in Al Arish, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took responsibility for the murder. …show more content…
Archbishop Anba Makarios said one such attack occurs every 10 days on the average, Christian Today relays.
While tension between Christians and Muslims in Egypt has always been present, the situation worsened after the Arab Spring in 2011. Sectarian violence has seen a significant increase in the last few months, causing concern among the roughly nine million Christians in the majority Sunni Muslim