Four churches in different Upper Egypt villages were targeted by hard-line Islamic extremists in early January.
In each village, the extremists formed a mob and attacked the churches, which were seeking official recognition. In each of these incidents, the police denied the rights of Christians to publicly worship and closed the churches, according to the demands of the mob.
Extremists gathered to demonstrate against the Mar Girgis Church in the village of Manshiyet Zafarana. According to a statement issued by the Archbishopric of al-Minya and Abu Qirqas: ‘More than 1,000 militants demonstrated against the church, chanting offensive and inflammatory statements in the presence of security forces, [who] asked them to calm down, promised them that they would do whatever they wanted to remove the people (Christians) from the place and close it.’
