ICC Note:
Tuesday Eve, the Coptic Orthodox Church gathered across all Egyptian governorates to celebrate the annual Feast of the Assumption of Mary despite objections of local authorities. However, objections from Muslim neighbors led to Egyptian officials in some local communities to prevent Coptic Christians from praying in the streets. Coptic Christians are routinely targeted by Egyptian authorities and militant groups. Thus any public practice of their faith comes at great risk.
08/23/2017 Egypt (Daily News Egypt) – The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated Tuesday the Feast of the Assumption of Mary across all Egyptian governorates. Processions through the street around The Holy Virgin Mary Monastery in Assiut took place on Tuesday eve, as well as prayers and celebrations across other churches and monasteries such as the Virgin Mary and Mar Youhanna Church in Sharqeya among others.
Meanwhile, The Copts-United website reported on Tuesday that prayers in a village in Abu Qirqas city in the governorate of Minya took place in the street after security forces closed the space for prayers, which is affiliated to the Minya Archbishopric on Sunday.
According to the website, Copts who weren’t allowed in by security forces voiced their anger of having their right to practise their rituals violated in submission to extremists. One citizen was reported to have said they prayed in the streets, and the police filed a report against them on accusations of “practising religious rituals without permission.”
On the other hand, the security narrative, as reported by news websites, was that the Copts were illegally using a residential place to do their prayers and that security interfered to protect them from any attacks. Some headlines read “security forces prevent sectarian strife in Minya.”
Such pretexts have been used to trigger attacks on Copts, as Minya is one of the main governorates witnessing violence against them whether in sectarian strife or in terrorist attacks.
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