(AINA) -- During his weekly sermon on Wednesday November 8 at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, Coptic Pope Shenouda III said "Coptic Blood is not Cheap," referring to the Coptic young men killed after security forces opened fire on them on November 24. In response to a query from a Copt in the audience as to what was the church doing for the 157 Copts detained and charged in connection with the incident of St. Mary and St. Michel's Church in Talbiya, the Pope said "We are doing our best in this matter."

(AINA) -- In an effort to end any hope of the Coptic Christians using the Church of St. Mary and St. Michaels in Talbiya for prayer services, the Giza Governorate converted overnight a house facing the church into a mosque.

Cairo (AINA) -- Dozens of Copts and a number of Muslims protested on December 4th in front of the Supreme Court in Cairo to call attention to the use of deadly force by State Security against Coptic protesters, which occurred on November 24 in Talbiya, Giza. The clashes between Copts and security forces resulted in 4 Coptic deaths as well as 120 injuries (AINA 12-3-2010).

(AINA) -- In what is viewed as a precedent by right groups, Egyptian state security forces opened fire on November 24 on Christian Copts, killing four, wounding 78, detaining hundreds and charging 170 with grievous charges -- "enough to keep them behind bars for 10-15 years," says Coptic political analyst Magdy Khalil.

(AINA) -- Christian Copts worldwide were shocked and enraged at the use of live ammunition by Egyptian state security forces against unarmed Coptic protesters, causing the death of three Coptic young men. A four-year old child suffocated from tear gas thrown inside the chapel. Rights groups inside and outside of Egybpt have condemned the use of excessive violence by security forces and the use of live ammunition against Coptic demonstrators.

(AINA) -- Clashes broke out between Christian protesters and Egyptian security forces over the construction of St. Mary and St. Michael church in Talbiya, within the Omraniya neighborhood of Giza, resulting in the killing of two Copts, hundreds of injuries and the arrest of more than 200 Copts.

(AINA) -- A Standoff took place on November 22 between Copts and security forces, which stormed the Church of St. Mary and St. Michael, in Talbiya, Giza to stop the construction of the church. It was the second time in less than 10 days that security forces stormed the church premises to seal it off.

(AINA) -- Police authorities in the Egyptian village rampaged by a Muslim mob on November 15, torching some 22 Coptic houses, came to the conclusion that the fires came about haphazardly as an "act of fate." The Bishop of Nag Hammadi, Anba Kyrillos, rejected the police explanations of the cause of the fires, saying "An act of fate caused 22 houses to be torched? An act of fate also caused torching of shops, a storage house and a large number livestock not near each other?" He added that the two Coptic-owned fields and irrigation machinery were torched one day later, "so was this also an act of fate?"

(AINA) -- Coptic Christians in the Upper Egyptian village of el-Nowahed, Abu-Tesht, in Qena Province, were victims of an attack by a Muslim mob of nearly one thousand on Monday, November 15. The attack started at nearly 10:00 pm on Monday evening and lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning.

(AINA) -- Thousands of Copts staged a sit-in inside and outside the Church of the St. Mary in Talbiya, in the Pyramids area, since the morning of November 11, to protest the storming of the church premises by dozens of security forces to stop construction work and demolish stairs and toilets inside the church, despite the church having obtained the necessary permits.

(AINA) -- A Coptic Christian woman in Egypt named Camelia Shehata has unwittingly become the focal point in the clash of Islam with Christianity. The Al-Qaeda group operating in Iraq, which calls itself the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), stormed Our Lady of Deliverance Assyrian Catholic church in Baghdad on Sunday, October 31, and killed 58 Christians before being killed and blowing themselves up. In the phone call they made to Iraqi authorities ISI members demanded the release of Camelia Shehata, among others, whom they believe has converted to Islam but is being held against her will in a monastery by the Coptic church of Egypt.

(AINA) -- The attack by Islamic terrorists on the congregation of the Assyrian Our Lady of Deliverance Catholic church in central Baghdad, on October 31, resulted in killing of 52 catholic Assyrians, including two priests, 5 policemen, and wounding 75. 5 terrorists died either by detonating their explosive belts or being killed by the Iraqi security. The Martyrs Brigade of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a Sunni militant umbrella group affiliated with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.

(AINA) -- The majority of Coptic Christians and liberal Muslims in Egypt believe that Fundamentalist sheikhs and their mass media have played a vital role in the latest wave of incitement against the Coptic Church, orchestrated by Egyptian State Security.

(AINA) -- The recent mounting attack by Muslim fundamentalists on the Coptic Church and its head Pope Shenouda III, accusing him of causing sectarian tensions and calling for his "disposal", is seen by some as a sign that matters "got out of hand" and that Egypt is heading towards a catastrophe, while others see the "steady hand of the State Security agents" directing all players like marionettes in a play written and directed by them, to target the Christian minority and achieve political gains for the Regime at the same time.

(AINA) -- Coptic Solidarity, a worldwide Coptic Human Rights Organization, issued a statement on October 14, warning that the alarming upsurge of significant anti-Coptic activities over the recent weeks could eventually "degenerate into wholesale violence against the Copts and their spiritual leaders" in the upcoming volatile period of political changes in Egypt.

(AINA) -- Bishop Bishoy, secretary of the Coptic Church's Holy Synod and the second highest authority in the church, caused a Muslim furor last week when the media published excerpts from a lecture he was due to give later to the clergy during the "Coptic Faith" Seminar held in Fayoum, south of Cairo on September 23.

(AINA) -- A new wave of defamation by Islamists against Coptic Pope Shenouda III and the Coptic Church is seen by many observers as a serious provocation to sectarian violence against the Copts, and the possibility of Egypt being dragged into civil war.

(AINA) -- Since the Christmas Eve Massacre on January 6,2010, when six Copts were killed and nine seriously injured by Muslims in a drive-by shooting outside a church in Nag Hammadi (AINA 1-7-2010), the Coptic Patriarchate in Cairo has become a Mecca for oppressed Copts from all over Egypt.

(AINA) -- On the occasion of Egyptian President Mubarak's visit to Washington this week to attend the Mideast talks, Coptic Christians in the US and Canada staged a peaceful rally on September 2nd outside the White House to protest the persecution of Copts in Egypt. The Motto of the rally was "President Mubarak Make Peace in Your Country First."

(AINA) -- Egyptians, Muslims and Christians alike, are closely watching the controversy associated with the Ground Zero Mosque project, though for different reasons. The Egyptian media is giving this issue full coverage with articles mostly accusing Americans of Islamophobia, and supporting Muslims to hold on to their rights to build a mosque anywhere as guaranteed by the US constitution, regardless of what Americans think.

On August 13 Sheikh Tobah, Imam of the village of Shimi 170 KM south of Giza, called during Muslim Friday prayers for Jihad against Christians living there. As a result the Christian Copts living in the village were assaulted over two consecutive days. Eleven Copts were hospitalized and many Coptic youths were arrested.