Coptic Priest Beaten and Clubbed by Muslim Mob in Front of 200 Children at Egypt Sunday School

Coptic Priest Beaten and Clubbed by Muslim Mob in Front of 200 Children at Egypt Sunday School

A Coptic church in Upper Egypt is closed after a throng of angry Muslims attacked it this month, beating a priest and another Copt as more than 200 fearful children who had gathered for Bible lessons looked on, according to advocacy groups. 

One of the injured Copts, Asaad Bakheet Rezek, told Coptic TV (CTV) that a Muslim about 17 years old beat one of the priests with a club as security forces led him from the Anba Karas Church building in Naga al-Ghafir, Sohag Governorate in southern Egypt. 

The priest, identified as Father Basilious, sustained a minor head injury as security forces escorted him and another priest into an armored vehicle after the chanting mob tried to enter the building, Rezek said, adding that the children were terrified by the club- and knife-wielding crowds as they shouted, cursed and pelted the building with rocks.