Demonstrators from Deir Barsha and Deir Heness marched
through the streets shouting slogans against the governor: “Go, go
after your master [Mubarak]" and "We stopped giving bribes, so now you
want to demolish the centre."
At the end of the demonstration, more than 200 Copts
refused to leave the centre for the disabled, staging a non-stop sit-in
until the demolition order is revoked.
The five-storey building belongs to the Coptic diocese
of Mallawi and provides services to the elderly and children from 75
villages in Minya Governorate.
The governor wanted to demolish the building in
January 2011, but was prevented by Coptic anger and demonstrations all
over Egypt after the massacre of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on
New Year's Eve.
The building slated for demolition “was inaugurated by
the governor himself four years ago and all licenses and papers are
fully correct. Suddenly he wants to demolish it,” one of the
demonstrators said.