The Coptic Archbishopric of Upper Egypt’s governorate of Minya released a statement on Sunday in which it said that four churches were closed during October and expressed condemnation towards the government for total inattention.
According to the statement churches, located in different villages inside the governorate, closed by security officials or due to clashes that erupted following assaults from extremists.
“In only two weeks, four churches were closed, the churches’ people were subjected to assaults from extremists, and all this took place as if praying in churches is considered a ‘crime’,” the statement read.
On a regular basis, the government takes action in the wake of any assaults from extremists against Copts in Minya, this action is the ‘reconciliation’, however this action is aggressive to Copts based there, the statement noted.
Moreover, the government is not only using the ‘reconciliation’ as a mean to end any assaults from extremists against Copts there or assaults against the Coptic facilities, but also resorts to the closure of these facilities to put end to the ongoing assaults against Copts, the statement added.
The statement highlighted the closures based El-Sheikh Alaa village, El-Qeshiri village, Abu Seifein village and Zakaria village.
The statement concluded by calling on the government to follow instructions issued from Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Sisi that stipulated non-discrimination of Egyptians and to suspend the domination of extremists’ ideologies.
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