Security services in Minya, Upper Egypt, arrested 10 Copts in the village of Abu Hennis in Samalout, Minya, as they were building a wall around a piece of vacant land belonging to the local church.
In a remarks , Fr. Stephanous Shehata of Samlout Diocese said Abu Hennis is a small village in Samalout and has an Orthodox church on an area of 40 square meters, which is way too small to accommodate the big number of Coptic worshippers. A new larger area of land was dedicated to build a larger church or expand the old one.
The priest added that the Coptic workers started to erect a wall around the plot, but security forces arrested them because the construction was made without official permits from the concerned authorities.