Thousands of Copts from Maghāghah and al-Adawa in Minia, Upper Egypt, staged a sit-in at the bishopric grounds in Maghāghah last Monday to protest what they saw as unjust, humiliating treatment at the hands of Minia governor Ahmad Dīyā’ al-Dīn.

Heading the protest was Bishop Aghathoun, Bishop of Maghāghah and Adawa, and the parish clergy. The sit-in came in the wake of the refusal of Dīyā’ al-Dīn to approve the building of a new bishopric church after the Copts had pulled down the old, dilapidated one last March, which was the pre-condition the governor had placed in order for him to license a new one. Once the old building was demolished, he had pledged in writing that a permit would be issued for a new one. The Copts pulled down the old church and, for some four months now, the congregation has been worshipping in a makeshift marquee instead.