Egyptian Christians appeal for help to international human rights organizations

But will they listen? A message from The Middle East Christian Association (thanks to Ann):

Economic Blow to the Christians in Upper Egypt

Appeal to all international human rights organization from the Christians
of the towns of Farshout, Abu Tesht, Abu Shusha, El-Arky, El-Dahsha, El-Khawaled and El-Kom El-Ahmar.

We, the Christian inhabitants of these towns appeal to you for support, as we have been subjected to brutal terrorist attacks from Muslims residing in our same towns. These attacks resulted in an estimated loss of over five million Egyptian pounds, equivalent to more than one million US dollars.

On the morning of Saturday, November 21 2009, we were stunned by the presence of well-organized groups of people, distributed all over the town of Farshout; they were physically assaulting any Christian person they met in the streets, whether it be a man, woman, girl or even a child, accompanied by Islamic chants, as if they were on a new Islamic invasion.

They broke into all the shops and businesses owned by Christians, breaking down the doors, looting all contents, only to leave after it was completely empty, then setting it on fire. They went from one Christian-owned shop to another.

More than 40 shops have been broken into, all this was happening while they sung Islamic chants as if they were undertaking a legitimate act approved by Islam, or a Muslim invasion which would make the heart of the God of Islam happy.

All this took place before the eyes and ears of the security forces and the Egyptian police without any intervention on their part. The police left the mob to carry out looting and opened the way for them to escape without the slightest objection from them, as if the police were there to protect them during their looting and not to arrest them.

The Coptic Orthodox Society was also broken into and completely vandalized. It was licensed over 30 years ago by the Ministry of Social Affairs and has been engaged in helping the needy in this town and the neighboring ones. It taught crafts to young men and women to combat unemployment and provided micro-credit for poor families to assist them in starting small business projects. In spite of being a Coptic society, it provided assistance to Christians and Muslims alike, without any distinction and was ultimately completely vandalized by those whom it has lent a supporting hand. Some houses were also broken into, forcing the residents to go out and leave their homes behind; they looted the contents of the whole house, while the Muslims in the streets assaulted those families before letting them go.

What we write to you now represents only a fraction of what actually happened to us, we the Christians of these villages, and we have evidence, in pictures and video footage, to prove all what we are saying.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Nag Hammadi to which our village is affiliate, HG Bishop Kyrillos, is fully prepared to take any telephone conversation from any authority wishing to investigate this issue further. HG is also pleading for support since help from inside Egypt is lacking, and so far, the security authorities have failed to respond to this matter.

We appeal to all international human rights organizations to intervene so that we, the Christians, can obtain the least of our human rights, which is to live and co-exist in Peace. We have lost everything that we own in this blow, which was specifically aimed at hitting the Christians economically and destroying the Coptic economic infrastructure in this town and the Province of Qena at large.

Presented by The Christians of Farshout and the affiliated villages