20 arrested after attack on Coptic property

Egyptian police said on June 22 that they arrested 20 people in a recent attack on Coptic Christian property in the village of Al-Nazla, some 60 miles south of Cairo, Agence France-Presse reported the same day.

The incident was apparently sparked by rumors that a local woman who had converted to Islam was kidnapped by her Christian family. The woman had in reality been on a three-day visit to relatives in Cairo and would later return home.

Police used tear gas to disperse the hundreds of Egyptian Muslims who took part in the attack.

“Al-Nazla residents threw stones at houses and shops owned by Copts…because the villagers believed that the woman had been kidnapped by Christian members of her family,” a security official said on the condition of anonymity, adding, “Some 50 Coptic homes and businesses, including pharmacies, grocers and electrical appliance shops were sacked.”

Coptic resident Sayyed Ghattas said, “I was surprised at this attack by people with whom we were on good neighborly terms and who, all of a sudden, turned on us. This matter had nothing to do with us.”

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