Copts demand rebuilding of partially burnt down church in governorate Aswan

 Copts protesting in Beni Sueif (Photo Al-Masry al-Youm/Mohammed al-Garnousy)


Al Ahram on line reports that the military and the police used force late Tuesday night to disperse hundreds of angry Coptic demonstrators and their supporters who were attempting to stage a sit-in outside the Maspero TV headquarters in downtown Cairo to protest attacks on a christian church in Upper Egypt.
Christian Copts took to the streets earlier Tuesday evening, marched from the heavily Coptic district of Shubra onto Egypt's High court before ending at Maspero.
Last Friday, Muslim extremists burned down the 71 year-old Mar Girgis church in Merinab village in the city of Edfu, located in the southern Aswan governorate of Egypt. Over the weekend, Moustafa al-Sayed, governor of Aswan, said on television that the Copts in the village were attempting to rebuild the aged church without aquiring the required planning permit. However, Copts were able to produce documents that prove they had applied for and obtained all necessary paper work.
Al Masry al-Youm reports that also in Beni Sueif ther was a protest of some 500 Copts in solidarity with the village of Merinab. In Aswan meanwhile a sit-in continued of Copts in front of the municipality's headquarters.