CAIRO: Pope Shenouda presented Thursday all relevant documents and licenses for renovating a church partially burnt down in Marinab last week to the ruling military council and the Cabinet.
Coptic sources told Daily News Egypt that Shenouda’s Secretary Bishop Youa’nis met with Bishop Makarios of the Marinab church and the church’s lawyer in Aswan Osama Refaat who presented documents, including footage of the burning of the church and permissions to rebuild it.
Copts protested in Aswan, Minya and Beni Suef condemning the attack on the church.
The Maspero Coptic Youth Union called for a Coptic million man march on Friday as army and police forces violently dispersed a Maspero sit-in held by thousands of Copts Wednesday, leaving tens injured.
The march is planned to start from Shubra to Tahrir Square and then head to Maspero for another sit-in.
"We demand the rebuilding of the burnt church, compensating Copts whose houses were burnt, prosecuting whoever committed this crime, and issuing a unified law for building houses of worship," Coordinator of Maspero Coptic Youth Union Ramy Kamel told DNE.
The church scuffle started when a group of Muslims in Marinab village, a few kilometers from Edfu, protested against the rebuilding of the church, claiming that it is illegal, as license were issued for a service center owned by a Copt.
The conflict between the village’s Copts and Muslims escalated over the nature of the license.
The prosecution released pending investigation Monday 10 Muslims arrested by the village’s residents and accused of burning the church, as Coptic lawyer Naguib Gobrael sent a memo to the prosecutor general, warning that releasing them will further fuel sectarian tension.
He claimed in the memo that the released Muslims stormed the village, threatening to slaughter the village’s Copts and burn their houses.
"I received Wednesday morning tens of calls from Copts in the village asking for help as they were threatened by the released defendants," Gobrael told DNE.
