pouR Christian Copts, it is now known, were killed in the town of Suez during riots which caused considerable loss of life and damage before the recent disturbances in Cairo. Fides, the news agency of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, estimates that at least 12 more Copts died at the hands of the mob in Suez and six or seven were injured. King Farouk's action in dismissing the Wafdist Government and replacing it by one headed by the new Prime-Minister, Ali Maner Pasha, has brought relief to the Coptic community, who had meanwhile asked the King as a matter of urgency to remove their religious disabilities. Copts were hounded through the streets, and children in the rabble were seen dipping their fingers in the blood of one murdered victim and daubing the placards they carried with crosses.
Police failed to intervene.
As the mob passed the Franciscan church, rioters tried to force the doors which, fortunately. opened outwards. The pressure was so great from behind that the rioters were unable to break in.
The interior of the Coptic church was pillaged. Furniture and other goods were heaped outside, the body of a murdered Co
the pyre was set alight.