Release International

A 3,000-strong mob attacked a Christian village near Alexandria, looting shops and homes and then setting them alight.

The attack on Kobry-el-Sharbat on Friday followed rumours that a Christian man, Mourad Samy Guirgis, had an 'intimate' photo of a Muslim woman on his mobile phone. Two Christians and one Muslim were reported to have been hospitalised after the attack, which began mid-afternoon.

When rumours about Guirgis's phone first began to circulate, a meeting was reportedly planned between Christian and Muslim representatives to try to resolve the issue.

But by 3pm, before the meeting took place, a mob had looted and set light to Guirgis's house and three others. Guirgis went to the police for his own safety. Several Christian-owned businesses were also looted and set alight. Those who lost their homes left the village.

Villagers have been critical of the security forces' slowness to intervene to protect the 65 Christian families in the village. The mob managed to prevent the fire brigade from intervening and one witness reported that it took the army an hour to drive just over a mile to the village. The violence finally subsided by midnight.

Christians in Kobry-el-Sharbat were ordered to stay at home on Saturday and not to open their shops and businesses.

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(Sources: Assist News Service, Assyrian International News Agency)

• Pray for all those affected by the violence in Kobry-el-Sharbat on Friday. Ask God to give them the grace to forgive their attackers. Ask God to protect Guirgis and his family.
• Pray for frank and open dialogue between Christians and Muslims in the area so that hard-line attitudes will give way to religious tolerance.

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