Journalist Mufīd Fawzī talks about the recent ‘Umrāniyyah church riots that left 2 dead. He says that, as a Copt, it is always difficult for him to write about political events involving Copts without being accused of either pandering to the authorities or being biased towards the church.

He says that the ‘Umrāniyyah incident cannot be considered without taking into consideration the long chain of sectarian violence since 1972, which is the same year when Dr. Jamāl al-‘Utayfī wrote a report about the crisis of building churches and proposed a unified law for places of worship. He says that around 500 churches have been built in the past forty years using the same method as ‘Umrāniyyah--by obtaining a permit for an ecclesial services center, but instead building a church.

He says that the riots weren’t dealt with properly and blamed them on the lack of dialogue between the diocese and the authorities. Fawzī then calls for a unified law for building places of worship.