Human Rights Watch has urged the Egyptian authorities to act to protect churches and religious institutions which have been under attack since the country's interim government began its crackdown on Islamists on August 14.
In a report released on Thursday, the New York-based rights group said that the authorities largely ignored pleas made by Christians as mobs of armed men attacked and ransacked over 40 churches across the country.
HRW said that at least four people have been killed in the mass attacks which followed the state's violent dispersal of two protest camps of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi.
“Immediately following the violent dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo on August 14, crowds of men attacked at least 42 churches, burning or damaging 37, as well as dozens of other Christian religious institutions in the governorates of Minya, Asyut, Fayum, Giza, Suez, Sohag, Bani Suef, and North Sinai."
