Villagers attacked the homes of members of the tiny minority Baha'i faith with stones and firebombs in the south of Egypt this week, forcing families to flee for safety, rights groups said on Friday. Police later asked all Baha'is remaining in the mainly Muslim village of Shuraniya to depart, and no Baha'is were left there by the evening of April 1, a group of six Egyptian rights groups said in a joint statement, quoted by Reuters.
Egyptian police have detained seven people on suspicion of vandalism in the case, security sources said. "Because the violence was ongoing, police asked them to leave the village for their own protection," Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told Reuters.
"We don't think that Baha'is would be safe if they went back right now," he added.
Baha'is number between 500 and 2,000 in Egypt.
The rights groups said the attacks in Shuraniya, in Sohag province about 400 km south of Cairo and home to around five Baha'i families, began on March 28 when villagers gathered outside Baha'i homes chanting: "There is no god but God, and Baha'is are the enemies of God".
Attackers later pelted the homes with stones, breaking windows, before police dispersed the crowd, the rights groups said. Similar attacks took place over the next two days.
Attackers returned on Tuesday and threw firebombs at the Baha'i homes, damaging them, the rights groups added, citing reports by the families. The groups said vandals also damaged property and stole electronics and livestock, and Bahgat said he feared anti-Baha'i violence could spread unless prosecutors took action.
