Churches across Egypt attacked

Published: August 14, 2013

World Watch Monitor is curating news coverage of the anti-Christian violence that swept Egypt on Wednesday after the military used force to break up camps of protesters who have been demanding the reinstatement of former president Mohamed Morsi. Scores of the protesters were killed, leading to violence in cities across the country. The protesters and their supporters took out their anger on government and Christian buildings and homes.

World Watch Monitor is using Storify to collect and organise the widespread news coverage. The Storify report appears below

Storify by World Watch Monitor

6 hours ago

Egypt’s churches under attack

Numerous Christian churches across Egypt were attacked Wednesday by mobs angered by the military’s armed crackdown on protesters in Cairo. The official death toll is approaching 300; a state of emergency and curfew are in effect.

“@CatholicLisa: Pic: Coptic Kids at St. George in Sohag #Egypt – after church was attacked by Morsi supporters. pic.twitter.com/KD5d8emHaX”

10 hours ago

Watani International provided the following tally of assaults on Christian churches and other buildings:

· Three churches and six buildings at the monastery of the Holy Virgin and Anba Abra’am in Dalga, Minya, Upper Egypt

· 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

· Bible Society of Egypt bookstore in 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 Father Angaelus Melek of the Holy Virgin and Anba Abra’am’s

· The Evangelical church on Nassara Street in Abu-Hilal, Minya

· The church of Anba Moussa al-Aswad in Minya

· Coptic-owned shops, pharmacies, and a doctor’s clinic in Minya (photo below)

photo of fire set in a shop owned by coptic citizen in El minya governorate upper #Egypt pic.twitter.com/bSc9CEKZTw

21 hours ago

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 kidnapped

· The Greek church in Suez

· The church of Mar-Girgis in Assiut

· 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

RT “@moftasa: A church burning in Sohag, multiple angles pic.twitter.com/R9nicMH0Pv pic.twitter.com/mB9vDK49JY pic.twitter.com/sdokjG03lt”

19 hours ago

Additionally, the Bible Society of Egypt reported that another of its bookstores, in Minya, was burned.

Click the Google Maps link below to see the locations of reported attacks on Egyptian churches.

Egyptian Churches attacked – Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps

A roundup of news coverage about assaults on Egyptian Churches

Copts and police targeted all over Egypt

Once news got around that Egyptian authorities were breaking up the sit-ins by the Islamist Mursi supporters at the east Cairo district o…

Egypt: Morsi Supporters Attack Coptic Churches in Sohag, Menya and Dilga [VIDEO]

Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi have attacked churches in Dilga, Menya and Sohag after government security forces b…

Greek Church and two Coptic schools in Suez burned – (MCN)

MCNdirect.com to provide timely and reliable news, situation reports and insightful analyses on Copts and Christian minorities in the Mid…

Two churches attacked in Assiut and Wasta, army protects Two Saints Church in Alexandria – (MCN)

MCNdirect.com to provide timely and reliable news, situation reports and insightful analyses on Copts and Christian minorities in the Mid…

“We’ve seen attacks like this before, but not of this severity and coordination. There have been attacks before on an individual level, but these are mobs attacking simultaneously in governorates and these attacks are directly related to the dispersals of the sit-ins.”

— Ishak Ibrahim, Egyptian Initiative

for Personal Rights

Via Wall Street Journal

The military moves in

#Egypt photo: Woman tries to stop military bulldozer aje.me/13Yyfv0 pic.twitter.com/9I6VNf0919

21 hours ago

With helicopters, tanks, bulldozers and live ammunition, the army began to drive protesters out of camps at 7 a.m. Wednesday — midnight Tuesday on the East Coast of the United States.

According to Reuters:

“Reuters journalists on the scene saw masked police in dark uniforms pour out of police vans with sticks and tear gas bombs. They tore down tents and set them ablaze.”

. . .

“After shooting with live ammunition began, wounded and dead lay on the streets near pools of blood. An area of the camp that had been a playground and art exhibit for the children of protesters was turned into a war-zone field hospital.”

. . .

“The government insists people in the camp were armed. Several television stations, all controlled by the state or its sympathizers, ran footage of what appeared to be pro-Mursi protesters firing rifles at soldiers from behind sandbag barricades.”

Here are the latest comprehensive roundups of the military action and the overall situation across Egypt: