In a retaliatory move against the Coptic villagers for standing up against the harassment of Muslim youth to Coptic girls, the Security forces raided homes and arrested randomly 20 Copts, in the Upper Egyptian village of Romany, Aby Korkas, under the pretext of searching for weapons.
The raid included uninhabited homes of Copts who are away for reasons of
travel or work, as well as Coptic shops and businesses. Police forces
confiscated butane cylinders, food, rationed goods, and electrical equipment, under the pretext of analyzing its contents, which normally does not necessitates confiscating such amounts.
Villagers were surprised on Saturday 7th March, to find that more than 40 police armored cars with dozens of officers and soldiers raiding the village, accompanied by officers from facilities, catering and traffic, where they arrested randomly a large number of Copts on pretext of searching for weapons.
Advocacy group Copts Free reported the number of arrests to Copts as high as 65 including whole families.
Security vehicles were deployed in the areas inhabited by Christians, such as the neighborhoods north, south and west of the village, and around Churches including the Church of St. George and the Evangelical Church.
There was no news about the arrest of any Muslims from the village, while another source indicated that the police arrested six Muslims in this campaign, which they called "the barbaric security raid".
A village source reported that they were surprised when the police raided the village after they thought that calm had returned to it in the aftermath of the incident of 17th February when clashes broke out between Muslims and Copts caused by the harassment of a Muslim youth to a Coptic girl, which escalated to include a large number of both family members and in which people were arrested. A reconciliation cession was conducted by the prosecutors at the police station between Muslim and Coptic parties, which ended the conflict, and the arrested people were released as a result.
Villagers believe that this raid and arrests are made to intimidate the Copts who are daring to stand up for their rights, regarding the harassment of their girls by Muslim Youths. They are wondering whether anyone will answer their pleas to save them from the injustice of the mighty state security authorities.
Translated into English by Voice of the Copts