Islamists in Egypt burned down a Christian school, paraded three nuns on the streets like “prisoners of war,” and sexually abused two women last week as supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi attacked at least 58 churches, Christian institutions, homes and shops.
The Islamists called for the reinstatement of Morsi, who is from the Muslim Brotherhood and was ousted by the military on July 3. Hundreds of Morsi’s supporters were killed as police cleared the sit-in camps, and the others went on a rampage.
The Associated Press reported that the Islamists torched a Franciscan school in Bani Suef. The attack, supposedly to punish the school for giving an inappropriate education to Muslim children, lasted for six hours. The school has an equal number of Muslim and Christian pupils.
A mob of Islamists stormed the school, scaled the wall, looted money and valuables, vandalized the cross on the street gate and replace it with a black banner which looked like the flag of al-Qaeda, according to the school principal, Sister Manal.
“We are nuns. We rely on God and the angels to protect us,” Sister Manal, who was with other staff, was quoted as saying. “At the end, they paraded us like prisoners of war and hurled abuse at us as they led us from one alley to another without telling us where they were taking us,” she said.
A former teacher of the school, who is Muslim, came to their help. “I remembered her, her name is Saadiyah. She offered to take us in and said she can protect us since her son-in-law was a policeman. We accepted her offer,” Manal said.
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Image: Catholic World Report