Islamists have taken control of Dalga, Egypt and have been terrorizing Christians throughout the city.

Islamists have burned churches, plundered Christian institutions and businesses and stolen ancient artifacts.

“They don’t want to see any Christian with any power, no matter how modest,” Father Yoannis, a Coptic Orthodox priest, told the Associated Press. “They only want to see us poor without money, a trade or a business to be proud of.”

Church leaders say that at least 40 families have fled the city and those who have remained have been forced to bribe Muslims to protect them from the ongoing violence.

“There are no words that can describe the state of panic,” Ishak Ibrahim with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told Bloomberg. “You sit expecting that at any minute dozens of armed people could attack your home, possibly even kill you or drive you out.”