Numerous Christian churches across Egypt have been attacked since Wednesday by mobs angered by the military's armed crackdown on protesters in Cairo. The official death toll has passed 600. The destruction has continued on Friday, which the Muslim Brotherhood has called "A Day of Rage".
Storified by World Watch Monitor ·
Sun, Aug 18 2013 19:51:16
Latest from
Cairo, 7pm (local time), Friday, Aug. 16
Samia Sidhom, managing editor of Watani, a Cairo
news service with a focus on Coptic Christian issues, tells World Watch Monitor
the situation for Egyptian Christians is “very bad”, as Christian homes are under attack.
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“The Islamists have again been on a rampage against Copts and churches. It's bad in Mallawi and Minya - very bad. The Catholic church and the Good Shepherd school have been burned; also the Evangelical church. But worse, they're attacking the Christians in their homes. Ten houses have been attacked, and now they're attacking shops too,” says Sidhom.
The Coptic Orthodox bishopric in Mallawi and the 4th Century desert monastery of Abu Fana have also been attacked.
In Cairo, Sidhom says “the Islamists tried to break into the Giza bishopric but were confronted by the army and stopped. A friend who lives close by says they fled to the side streets, cursing the army and shouting abuse at them for defending the church. And also in Cairo, the Islamists attempted to break into the Mar-Girgis church on the Nile Corniche to Helwan, but the Muslims in the neighbourhood rushed to defend the church and forced the Islamists to turn back”.
This Storify will be updated
Sections in this Storify:
1. The tally of damage
1a. The Watani list
1b. The Amira Mikhail list
2. Close-up: The Virgin Mary Church
3. Media roundups of church attacks
4. The military moves in
5. The latest overviews
Click the Google Maps link below to see the locations of reported attacks on Egyptian churches.
1. The tally of damage
Assaults on Christian churches, community centres, businesses and homes have been widespread. There appears to be no central source of a precise accounting of the damage.
Daily News Egypt, an English-language publication based in Cairo, on Thursday
published a summary of what is known so far:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a list of 35 incidents of attacks on Coptic Christians around the country that that was compiled on Wednesday by El-Watani weekly. It contains a list of churches, businesses and private homes of Coptic Christians. These were either set ablaze, attacked or looted. [Editors' note: the Watani list can be found in section 1a, below]
Amira Mikhail the Egypt researcher for the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East also compiled a longer list with the assistance of Mai El-Sadany and Amir Beshay. The list includes 45 churches and 11 Christian institutions. [Editor's note: A link to Mikhail's list can be found in section 1b, below]
According to Mikhail’s list, the worst affected governorate was Minya where approximately 12 churches were attacked, many of them set on fire along with attacks on two Christian-owned institutions. The list also includes attempted attacks on churches, such as the one on Saint Fatima Basilica in Cairo.
Another comprehensive list can be found here, at Rayna Stamboliyska's Into Oblivion blog.
1a. The Watani list
Watani International provided the following chronological tally, as of 7 p.m. Cairo time on Aug. 14, of assaults on Christian churches and other buildings:
·
Three churches
and six buildings at the monastery of the 5th-century Monastery of the Holy Virgin and Anba Abra’am in
Dalga, Minya, Upper Egypt. Father Silwanis Lutfi told Watani that the Islamists broke into
the grounds. . . and set the churches
on fire, as well as six buildings which house a clinic, a home for retreat, a
pre-school nursery, and the bishop’s residence.
A monk at the monestary, Fr. Angaelus Melek, told World Watch Monitor that many Christian residents have fled Dalga. The police station was attacked, he said, leaving the monastery without protection.
·
The church of
Mar-Mina in the district of Abu-Hilal in the town of Minya
·
The bishopric
church of Mar-Girgis (St George) in Sohag, Upper Egypt (video below)
The church of the Holy Virgin in Nazla, Fayoum, Lower Egypt
· The Baptist church in Beni-Mazar, Minya
· Coptic-owned shops in Gumhouriya Street in Assiut, Upper Egypt
· The Good Shepherd School in Suez
· The Fransiscan School in Suez
· Holy Bible Society, Fayoum
· The church of al-Amir Tawadros (St Theodore) in Fayoum
· The church of the Holy Virgin in the district of Abu-Hilal in the town of Minya
· The Catholic church of St Mark, Minya
· The Jesuit church in Abu-Hilal, Minya
· The church of Mar-Morqos (St Mark) and its community centre, Sohag
· 18 houses of Coptic families in Dalga, Minya, including the home of Melek.
· The Evangelical church on Nassara Street in Abu-Hilal, Minya
· Anba Moussa al-Aswad Coptic Orthodox Church, in Minya
A priest at the church, Fr. Samuel Aziz, told World Watch Monitor that he, his family, and the family of his brother -- also a priest -- had taken refuge in the home of a Muslim family. What happened to the church, Aziz said, was "like World War II."
· Coptic-owned shops, pharmacies, and a doctor’s clinic in Minya (photo below)
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The Jesuit church in Minya (attacked, not burned)
· The St Fatima Basilica in Cairo (attacked, not burned)
· St Joseph’s School in Minya (attacked, not burned)
· The Nile boat al-Dahabiya, owned by the Evangelical Church in Minya
· Coptic-owned shops, pharmacy, and hotels on Karnak Street and Cleopatra Street in Luxor (attacked and looted)
· The church of Mar-Girgis (St George) in Wasta (attacked)
· The church of St Michael on Nemeis Street in Assiut, Upper Egypt
· The Adventist church in Assiut; the pastor and his wife were both reported kidnapped (this has now been proved false)
· The Greek church in Suez
· The church of Mar-Girgis in Assiut (video)
· Coptic houses on Qulta Street in Assiut attacked
· The church of Mar-Girgis (St George) in Arish, North Sinai
· The church of St Dimiana and the Evangelical church in the village of Zerbi in Fayoum
· The offices of the Evangelical foundation in Minya, and those of Umm al-Nour in Beni-Mazar, Minya
· The church of Anba Antonius in Kerdassa, Giza
· The bishopric church in Etfeeh, Giza
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The Bible Society of Egypt said that its bookstores in Minya and Assiut (photo below) were burned out completely. Basem Shoukry, a Christian resident of Assiut, told World Watch Monitor that the mob threw the store's bibles into the street, trampled them, then set them on fire.
1b. The Amira Mikhail list
Amira Mikhail is an Egypt researcher at the
Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East in Washington, D.C. Working with volunteers in Egypt, she has compiled a list of Christian churches and other facilities that have been assaulted. It includes many of the same churches on the Watani list, plus others.
Click here to see the list.
