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Cairo – Muslim villagers south of Egypt’s capital set ablaze Christian homes and assaulted an elderly woman paraded naked in public over rumours of an interfaith relationship, the church and officials said yesterday.
Coptic Pope Tawadros II called for restraint after the incident in Karam village in Minya province, the Coptic Orthodox Church said in a statement.
The authorities have assured the pope that they will “chase down the perpetrators and bring them to justice”, the church said.
Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypt’s population of 90 million, have faced persecution and systematic discrimination that spiked during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.
The latest incident on May 20 followed rumours that a Christian man was having a relationship with a Muslim woman, the diocese of Minya said on Wednesday on the Coptic Church’s Facebook page.
The church said that even though the man’s parents had told police they were receiving threats, security forces took two hours to arrive after Christian homes started to come under attack on Friday night.
During the attack, armed individuals looted and set fire to seven houses belonging to Christian families, the church said.
The church said an elderly woman, identified by the prosecution as the mother of the man said to be involved with the Muslim woman, was stripped naked and paraded before the mob.- Reuters.
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