At least 35 people have died and 55 others hospitalized after a fire broke out in a church in Cairo on Sunday, said the Egyptian Ministry of Health, which said "
still to determine the number of dead
".
“
I mobilized all state services to ensure that all measures were taken
,” President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi immediately reacted on his Facebook page.
This fire, the origin of which has not yet been clarified, is still raging, according to the authorities, at the Abu Sifin church in the popular district of Imbaba, named after Saint Mercury of Caesarea, revered by the Copts, the largest Christian community in the Middle East with 10 to 15 of the 103 million Egyptians.
Although numerous, the Copts consider themselves kept out of many positions and deplore very restrictive legislation for the construction of churches and much more liberal for mosques.
The subject is sensitive and the Coptic human rights activist Patrick Zaki recently spent 22 months in detention for "
spreading false information
" because of an article denouncing violations of the rights of Christians in Egypt.
Copts have suffered reprisals from Islamists especially after al-Sissi's 2013 overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi with churches, schools and homes set on fire.
Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the first president of Egypt to attend the Coptic Christmas Mass every year, recently appointed a Coptic judge to head the Constitutional Court for the first time in history.
