Earlier this month, a Coptic Christian man was found beheaded in the Sinai Peninsula. Scores of Christian homes have been burned. Massive intimidation marches, death threats, and a string of attacks have all increased in recent weeks, amid Islamist conspiracy theories that blame Christians for the removal from power of former President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-linked government.

The Associated Press makes a call:

While Islamists are on the defensive in Cairo following the military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi, in Assiut and elsewhere in Egypt’s deep south they are waging a stepped-up hate campaign, claiming the country’s Christian minority somehow engineered Morsi’s downfall. “Tawadros is a dog,” says a spray-painted insult, referring to Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Copts, as Egypt’s Christians are called. Christian homes, stores and places of worship have been marked with large painted crosses.

The widespread attacks by Morsi supporters have triggered calls within Egypt for public unity in response to the violence:

The Dostour or Constitution Party, in Minya, Upper Egypt has called on Egypt’s Prosecutor General to quickly start an investigation into the repeated attacks on Coptic Christians in the Raida and Bani Ahmed el-Sharqiya villages, which have resulted in the burning of a number of houses, shops and cars owned by Copts. In a statement, the party said authorities must quickly uncover the circumstances of the incident, while calling for “intensifying the punishment against the perpetrators who have intimidated Copts, the partners in the homeland.”

[Photo: Bakar_88 / Flickr]