During a session held on Monday evening, the board of trustees of Egypt’s Council of Churches (ECC) agreed to hand a list of the churches—Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical—ruined by the Islamists on 14 August to the armed forces commission that was formed to repair the damaged churches
During a session held on Monday evening, the board of trustees of Egypt’s Council of Churches (ECC) agreed to hand a list of the churches—Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical—ruined by the Islamists on 14 August to the armed forces commission that was formed to repair the damaged churches.
More than 80 churches and Coptic community centres were attacked on Wednesday 14 August together with other Coptic targets mainly in Upper Egypt. These included Coptic schools, shops, businesses, property, and homes. The Islamist rampage was carried out in revenge for the break-up that day of their five-week-long violent sit-ins in Cairo by the security forces. The sit-ins demanded that the Islamist president Muhammad Mursi who was toppled by a 30-million strong mass public protest that was later supported by the army should be reinstated.
According to the ECC’s Rifaat Fathy, the recent list will include only the worst damaged churches, which number some 48. The churches and buildings which sustained damages the Church can repair have not been placed on the list.
Mr Fathy explained that the damaged churches were divided into four categories: those that were burnt down and are a total loss, those that were ransacked and burned but the building still stands, those whose contents were looted, and those which sustained partial losses.
Watani International
10 September 2013