Muslims Set a Church to Fire in Fayoum

One of the village residents told MCN that the church was built in the 1980s and serves over 180 Christian families in the area.

The source said that the Copts of the village were surprised that the Muslims would attack the church, or demolish a part in the wall, as they did three months ago, in order to monitor the worship services in the church.

He continued that a customary “reconciliation” session was held after the village’s Muslims refused to give a 50-meter piece of land belonging to the church, in which the priest relented to their demand for the sake of peace. The Muslims also rejected the establishment of a kindergarten in the church.

The source said that the Salafi who incited the attack called the position of the church “illegal” as the electricity bill being in the name of H.G. Bishop Abraam, the bishop of Fayoum.

The Christians of the village, the source explained, have been in shock of the harassment by Muslims which started Thursday, when they demanded the church be moved from its site. OnFriday the crowd widened the hole in the church’s wall, and rejected the church’s offer to purchase the house from the Muslim man, considering the priest’s presence as “against Sharia.”

Before the attack, the head of the near-by Taymiyyah’s police station came to the village and held a “reconciliation” session between the priest and the Muslims of the village. However, some of the crowd had left the session and attacked the church.

The source added that security forces did not intervene to prevent the attacks on the church.

Since Friday afternoon, the numbers of the crowd have increased into the hundreds, ascending onto the church’s dome and burning the wooden cross.

The source told MCN that the crowd also attempted to demolish the church’s alter with stones, destroying parts of it and the statues on it.

The source revealed that a Muslim family snuck the priest out of the village before the crowd could attack him.

The family also tried to stop the crowd from burning the church, though the church’s water tank extinguished most of the flames after it fell into the building.

Security forces finally managed to convince the aggressors to stop the attack, though Christians of the village have not left their houses during this time, fearing potential attacks.

The sources added that three Christians had been injured attempting to defend the church.

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Edited from: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=42551