In some parts of Egypt, it can feel like every village is a mob attack waiting to happen.  

Something as seemingly mundane as a disagreement over the price of eggs can quickly escalate into a community-level assault if one of the disputing sides is Christian.  

Typically outnumbered, Christians don’t tend to fare well in these situations: Their homes might burn. Their shops might burn. Even if the property owners have nothing to do with the alleged incident, their being Christian makes them collectively guilty. They also might get dragged out into the street and subjected to various degrees of physical battery.  

Though these types of incidents have seen fatalities, they don’t typically end up that way. The goal, instead, seems to be to let everyone know which group is in charge and which is not.

The disputes that trigger the attacks don’t always have a religious aspect at first. But they have a way of quickly morphing into anti-Christian hostility. 

One such mob attack in January 2023 took place following a car accident that involved a Muslim and a Christian. This occurred just two weeks after a Christmas Eve 2022 mob attack that took place due to outrage over a local church seeking to repair its decaying roof.  

All these mob attacks “start about a reason” but “not always a true one,” said “Barnabas,” a member of the Coptic Church. Copts are by far the largest Christian minority. in Egypt 

Rumors can spread online about an interfaith relationship, specifically, a Muslim woman dating or married to a Christian man. One such infamous case saw an elderly Christian woman dragged from her home, beaten, and stripped naked in the street. The mob then paraded her through the village, chanting, “Allahu Akbar.” 

Some of the rumors can be surprisingly elaborate: Barnabas related that one incident started due to a rumor of a Coptic family who “wanted to baptize a [Muslim] girl and send her in a coffin to the United States.” 

Other incidents might happen due to online content deemed critical or mocking of Islam. The creator of such content might have no connection to the local area, but if someone from the village shared the content or gave it a “like” or another sign of approval, that could ignite the neighborhood.  

But perhaps the most frequent reason — be it true or fabricated — involves church construction. Even alleged repairs to a church building can incite an attack, especially if the alleged remodeling involves enlarging the preexisting church structure. Muslims could see that as an imminent threat.

Egypt has official regulations that legitimize the process of church building and repairs. But such legal legitimacy doesn’t count for much with the extremists. Sometimes, authorities will order Christians to stop church-related construction or repairs because such endeavors attract too much hostility and lead to social unrest.  

Barnabas said that sometimes these mob attacks don’t receive any media coverage, “especially in the remote villages.” 

Mob attacks are more likely to occur in parts of Egypt far south of the Mediterranean, namely in rural areas and impoverished urban neighborhoods.  

In such regions as Asyut and Minya, Christians comprise as much as one-third of the total population. But there is also a higher rate of Islamic extremists, and thus a history of recurring mob attacks.  

Barnabas estimated that about 40% to 50% of villages in his country have a sizable number of people who are hungry for an opportunity to take offense at something and turn it into an anti-Christian mob attack. 

“The people who lead [these attacks] can be very different,” he said. Some are devoutly Muslim, while others barely seem interested in their faith but seek to “get acceptance” from their community “by doing these things.” 

Some mobs have included as many as 300 people. Attacks of this caliber would likely involve recruiting from nearby villages.  

There is also often looting, suggesting that at least some perpetrators have material motives in addition to spiritual ones.  

Not all Muslim villagers support these attacks. There are reports of some who, at severe personal risk, give shelter to Christians.   

Barnabas agreed that there are some “good Muslims” who will “hide Christians” during the chaos.  

Be it village mobs or coordinated terrorist attacks, anti-Christian violence in Egypt was at a crisis level in the previous decade. At this point, though, more than eight years have passed since the country’s last large-scale terrorist attack on Christians. And the frequency of mob attacks has reportedly decreased in recent years. 

“Sabina,” a Coptic Egyptian woman, said mob attacks may have become less frequent, “but they are still happening.” 

She said that news reports of such attacks typically don’t mention details about ensuing legal consequences for the attackers. “They usually let them out after the arrest,” she said, adding that some of the detained may have to pay a fine to settle things with law enforcement.  

Some reports mention a “customary reconciliation” that takes place after mob attacks. Sabina acknowledged such “reconciliations” occur, but she regarded them as an “absence of real justice” that succeeds only in “silencing the persecuted side and diminishing the size of the harm they go through.” 

On the extent to which Egyptian authorities care about justice for victims, Barnabas opted to withhold comment.  

Story by R. Cavanaugh