Evangelical head thanks Sisi for efforts in rebuilding churches

CAIRO – 30 September 2017: Head of the Evangelical Community in Egypt Rev. Andre Zaki thanked President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi on Saturday for the great efforts exerted by the Egyptian armed forces to rebuild and restore the destroyed church of Bani Mazar in the governorate of Minya.

"I came here when the church was burned, but now I cannot believe the magnificence I see after the restoration," stated Zaki.

Zaki said during the reopening of the Evangelical Church that Sisi is keen on keeping freedom of worship, stressing that religion is a gift to all people and that he will do his best to protect this freedom.

The Evangelical Church of Beni Mazar was completely destroyed during an unprecedented spate of violence that erupted following the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood-occupied camps in Rabaa and Nahda squares.

MB-related rioters carried out attacks against Coptic churches, businesses and houses after the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi.

On August 14, 2013, security forces set out to disperse the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in in Nasr City’s Rabaa Al Adawiya Square, along with another sit-in located in Nahda Square in Giza.