CAIRO: Egypt's Gama'a Islamiya, or Islamic Group, condemned the Coptic Christian protests over the church burning in Edfu, Aswan, in a statement released on Thursday. The conservative Islamist group said the protests aims to call for foreign intervention and denied that Egyptian Christians are discriminated against. The militant group that turned non-violent in the late 1990s, argued the Coptic protests are led by lies and are “inappropriate.” Egyptian Copts organized a march on Tuesday that saw thousands participate in the condemnation of the recent attacks against fellow Christians in the town of Edfu, in Aswan, Southern Egypt. A group of Muslim men surrounded a church in Edfu on Friday and set part of it ablaze. The mob were angry that the building did not have the proper documents to function as a house of worship, but the violence soon got out of hand when some of them attacked two houses and vandalized a grocery shop owned by Copts. During the Tuesday march that started in the Shubra district and ended outside the National Radio and Television building, or Maspero, was attacked by military police in the early hours of Wednesday morning and a number of people were injured. BM
