By Emmanuel Nduka
Muslim extremists have burnt down several homes belonging to local Christians at a late hour raid on Tuesday.
The burning of the homes in Egypt’s southern Minya province is the most recent of similar acts of sectarian violence against the religious minority, which erupted less than two weeks before the Coptic Orthodox Easter celebrations.
A source inside Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church told The New Arab that “the attacks are believed to have been triggered by an attempt to build a new church in Al-Fawakher village in Minya met by the violent rejection of their Muslim neighbours”.
“When religious fanatics failed to expel Christians from their homes as a form of punishment, the extremists [reportedly] burned down their houses while they were still inside,” the source who spoke on condition of anonymity added.
Christians in Egypt have long called for equal rights with the Muslim majority and build new worship premises freely.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Arch Bishop Makarios of Minya, home to at least a third of Egypt’s Christian population, said in a post on his official Facebook page that the authorities had contained the situation and arrested the suspects, without elaborating further.
Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities are yet to release an official statement on the incident.
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Discrimination against Christians is relatively subtle in main cities like the capital, Cairo, or Alexandria but becomes much more pronounced in the south.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights recorded at least 77 attacks on Coptic Christians between 2011 and 2016 in Minya, hosting a majority of the country’s Christians. Bishop Makarios himself survived an assassination attempt over a decade ago.
Copts are reportedly banned from holding sovereign ministerial positions or sensitive posts at security agencies. They can also not legally run for presidential elections.
Christians are also legally forced to follow Islamic Law Sharia in most matters, except marriage and divorce. Women have fought endlessly for their right to have equal shares of inheritance with men, but in vain.
It is believed that Christians make up approximately 10 to 15 percent of the nearly 109 million population in Egypt.
