In an effort to prevent Coptic Christians using the newly built Church of St. Mary and St. Michaels for prayer services the Giza Governorate converted a four storey house facing the church into a mosque secretly during Thursday night, and hastily hung a cloth sign outside advertising the new Ekhlass mosque. Due to the minimum distance required by law between a church and a mosque Copts view this conversion of the house into a new mosque ‘as a trick on the part of the government to make the completion and use of St. Mary's Church an impossibility.’ On Friday morning over 3000 Muslims prayed there despite the presence of an established large mosque not far from the new mosque. In November the same Coptic Church was the scene of security forces using tear gas on women, children and youths at the church, in an attempt to halt construction of the new church building. Pray: for a peaceful and just resolution to a potentially inflammatory situation. (Ps.5:11)