The AP reported that last week an armed Muslim mob attacked Coptic Christians in Karma, Egypt, looting and burning seven homes and parading an elderly woman naked through the streets. The mob formed after a rumor circulated that the elderly woman’s son had an affair with a Muslim woman.
Eyewitness reports said the mob fired their weapons into the air, chanted anti-Christian slogans, and wounded several residents in an attempt to intimidate the Christian community in Karma. The community criticized the slow response of the police, and Coptic leaders have taken to social media and talk shows to decry the ongoing discrimination against Christians in Egypt. Anba Makarios, a top Coptic cleric in Egypt, stated that the police ignored the reported threats against the Christians in Karma, and only responded after the incident attracted media attention.
Christians make up approximately 10 percent of Egypt’s population and have been under near constant attack since the advent of the Arab Spring uprising. In January 2011, a suicide attack outside of a church in Alexandria killed 21 and injured 79. In October 2011 the Egyptian military and a mob massacred 23 Christians in Cairo. In April 2013, a series of clashes left dozens of Christians dead or injured.