General Osama Metwally, the security director in Minya, told the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm that a state of emergency was declared in the city. Security forces are currently investigated the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the two policemen.
The attack comes on Coptic Christmas eve and the holidays have resulted in heightened security around churches. Metwally told the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm that security around churches would be increased as a result of the attack.
Father Angelos Gerges Shenouda, the pastor of the Abu Serga church in Coptic Cairo, told Mada Masr that while he was not afraid of attacks occurring in Cairo, he was not surprised there was violence in Minya.
“Minya has very dangerous people, terrorist people. But in Cairo everything is good and our church is very safe. In Cairo the police and government are very strong. But Minya has been a center of terrorism for years,” he said.
Some Cairo residents also share this view. Mina, a Coptic Egyptian and editor of a music magazine in Cairo, told Mada Masr he was not worried about attacks on churches in Cairo during the holidays.
“In general, this is not a big issue. I guess that churches around the capital are more secure than ones in Upper Egypt. I think that security systems in Cairo and Alexandria will keep them totally secure,” he said.
Several incidents of sectarian violence against Coptic Egyptians have occurred in Minya in recent years.
In August 2013, the privately owned news agency ONA reported that Muslims attacked the houses of Christians with Molotov cocktails when they heard of plans to turn one of the houses into a church. According to the state-owned Al-Ahram the clashes broke out because of an argument between a Muslim and a Christian farmer.
Ishaq Ibrahim, a researcher of Coptic issues at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, stated that Tuesday’s attack was related to earlier incidents that followed the Rabea al-Adaweya massacre.
"It's a message to Coptic Christains. The first time [an attack like this] happened in Upper Egypt was after August 14, 2013. After August, the atmosphere became calm, and this is the first time they attacked the Church, to make Copts remember what happened. However, we do not know if they wanted to attack the church or the police working in front of the church," he said.
Following the 2013 dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in and the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi, Minya witnessed a wave of violence against Coptic Christians.
Churches and Christian residences were burned and a fact-finding mission in September 2013 found that at least 27 houses were vandalized and 62 families were displaced during the clashes. The privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm also reported that at least 30 churches were burned in Minya in 2013.
In 2009, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights singled out Minya as hotspot for sectarian-based violence. According to their report, disputes between Christians and Muslism about the building of churches and other matters could quickly turn into incidents of mob violence.
However attacks on Coptic Christians are not limited to Minya. In October 2013, there was a drive-by shooting in front of the Church of the Virgin in the Cairo district of Gezira al-Warraq. The shooters killed four victims, including two children aged eight and 12. Eighteen others were injured.
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http://www.madamasr.com/news/two-policemen-killed-church-attack-minya