MINYA, Egypt — The Egyptian province of Minya has frequently been a flash point for sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians. A 2009 report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights specifically focused on sectarianism in Minya and on freedom of belief.

According to the report, Minya was a center of sectarian violence, whether related to the building of churches, the holding of Christian services, rumors about romantic affairs between Muslims and Christians, or cases of regular disputes that quickly turned to mob violence between Muslims and Christians. Violent incidents occurred in the villages of Dafesh in Smalout, al-Ismailiya in Minya and Gargawi in Matai, according to the report.

Today, five years after the report, Minya continues to be the scene of recurrent sectarian incidents, particularly after the forced dispersal of the Rabia al-Adawiya and Nahda protests in support of former President Mohammed Morsi on Aug. 14, 2013. Following this, bloody reprisals spread through the streets of Minya province by Muslim Brotherhood supporters against Christians believed to have played a part in the revolution that toppled Morsi. As a result, a large number of churches, Christian institutions and properties in Minya city were set ablaze on Aug. 14 and during the following few days. The same type of incidents also occurred in other cities of the province, the most violent of which took place in Malawi and Deir Mawas.

After those events, a fact-finding mission from the Egyptian Center for Public Policy Studies in September 2013 showed that Minya witnessed the most violent of incidents, particularly in the village of Delga, where 27 houses were vandalized and 62 families displaced.