On 16 June, police forcibly entered a three-storey Christian community centre in Saft al-Kharsa, a village around 60 miles south of Cairo, and destroyed it.
They flung furniture and worship materials on to the street and barred the door with chains. The building is not officially registered as a church. However, local Christians applied to formally register it in November 2016 – following the Egyptian Parliament’s landmark ruling which was supposed to replace Ottoman-era restrictions on the construction of churches – but to date have received no official reply.
Reopened but no worship
The regional governor, who is responsible for church applications under the new law, met with church leaders. He informed them that the new legislation is not yet in force locally, and that he understood the community centre building was ‘dilapidated and that a demolition order had been issued’. Following discussions with church leaders, the governor agreed to re-open the centre, but refused to permit religious services without direct permission from the Prime Minister.
