Update: Minya churches cancel Christmas celebration after officers’ death

Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant congregations in Minya released a statement on Tuesday announcing the cancelation of Wednesday’s Christmas celebrations in solidarity with the families of the two policemen who died earlier on Tuesday morning while protecting a church in Minya.

“Following a discussion between the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches in Minya, and in light of the tragic incident which took place on Tuesday morning where two brave policemen died while performing their national duty to protect churches, we decided to restrict Christmas celebrations to Tuesday’s midnight mass,” the statement said.

“We apologize for not carrying out the official celebrations in solidarity with policemen who offer the greatest sacrifices to protect the safety of people and the state.”

The statement offered condolences to families of the Tuesday’s victims, as well as “the families of all police martyrs in the country.”

Unidentified gunmen shot the officers while they were guarding the Church of the Virgin Mary.

General Osama Metwally, the security director in Minya, told the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY) 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. The holidays had prompted heightened security around churches. Metwally told AMAY 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 he was not afraid of attacks occurring in Cairo, but 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 asserted.

Some Cairo residents also share this view. Mina, a Coptic Christian 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 newspaper Al-Ahram, the clashes broke out because of an argument between a Muslim and a Christian farmer.

Ishaq Ibrahim, a researcher on Coptic issues at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), stated that Tuesday’s attack was related to earlier incidents that followed the deadly dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in that claimed more than 1,000  lives in August 2013.

"It's a message to Coptic Christians. 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 former President Mohamed Morsi's ouster and the subsequent sit-in dispersal, Minya witnessed a wave of violence against Coptic Christians.

Churches and Christian residences were burned; a fact-finding mission in September 2013 found that at least 27 houses were vandalized and 62 families were displaced during the clashes. AMAY also reported that at least 30 churches were burned in Minya in 2013.

In 2009, EIPR singled out Minya as hotspot for sectarian-based violence. According to the group's report, disputes between Christians and Muslim about the building of churches and other matters could quickly turn into incidents of mob violence.  

Attacks on Coptic Christians are not limited to Minya, however. 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 people, including two children aged eight and 12. Eighteen others were injured.