Egyptian authorities have arrested eight people following clashes that erupted on Wednesday evening between Muslims and Coptic Christians in the Minya governorate, reported local and foreign media on Thursday.

More disturbing episodes of intimidation against Coptic Christians took place this month in the village of Manshiyet Zaafarana in Minya governorate, 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Cairo.

A police officer has been charged with the murder of two Coptic Christian men who were killed in Upper Egypt’s Minya Governorate last week.

In front of the house of Emad Sadiq, hundreds of mourners gathered on the way to the Coptic cemetery. The screams of women could be heard a kilometre away, while the lines of men extended for metres.

Police have arrested police guard Rabea Mustafa Khalefa over charges of killing two Orthodox Copts in front of the Church of Nahdet al-Qadasa on Wednesday in al-Serafa Street in Minya.

Hundreds of Coptic Christians on Thursday attended the burial of a father and his son who were killed by a police officer in Egypt’s Minya province, amid cries for the state to provide more protection, reports Reuters.

Egypt’s Ministry of Interior announced on Saturday in an official statement, that two other members who were involved in the Minya attack were killed. The Minya attack, previously resulted in the death of seven Egyptian Coptic Christian citizens, in the south of Cairo, early November.

Twelve militants were killed, two police-guiding Bedouins shot dead, and four others injured in clashes between Sinai extremists and security forces on the Dashlout-Farafra road. The battle took place 80 kilometers deep into the Western Desert, on the border of the Minya and Assiut governorates.

Egypt’s security forces have arrested the former justice minister, Ahmed Suleiman, local former judges told Reuters on Wednesday.

Minya Security forces have intensified their deployment near the road leading to Saint Samuel Monastery, after gunmen attacked bus passengers on their way to the site on Friday, killing seven and injuring 19.