Religious clashes erupt in Egypt after church attack

Clashes between Muslims and Copts over the weekend left 12 people dead and more than 200 injured

Religious clashes erupt in Egypt after church attack

Clashes between Muslims and Copts over the weekend left 12 people dead and more than 200 injured

Egypt's transitional government moved quickly to diffuse tensions after Muslim-Christian clashes in Cairo left 12 dead and cast a cloud over hopes for peaceful post-revolutionary change. More than 200 were wounded in clashes on Saturday after conservative Muslims attacked a church in the Imbaba area. Protesters have gathered outside the country's state television, accusing the army of failing to protect them. Egypt's army says more than 190 people detained after the violence will face military trials. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces called the move a "deterrent" against further violence.

RIP: Coptics carry a victim's coffin as Egyptian military rulers warned
of an "iron hand" to preserve order after sectarian clashes.u00a0A woman
mourns at a funeral. Pics/AFP

Egypt's justice minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi has warned that those who threaten the country's security will face "an iron fist". He spoke after an emergency cabinet meeting convened by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, who postponed a visit to the Gulf to hold the talks. Gindi said the government would "immediately and firmly implement the laws that criminalise attacks against places of worship and freedom of belief", which would allow for the death penalty to be applied.

Trouble sparks
Saturday's violence started after several hundred conservative Salafist Muslims gathered outside the Coptic Saint Mena Church in Cairo's Imbaba district. They were reportedly protesting over the allegation that a Christian woman, named as Abeer, was being held there against her will because she had married a Muslim man and converted to Islam.

The calls for this protest followed the appearance on a Christian TV channel of Camilia Shehata, a woman who Islamists had claimed was also being held against her will after converting to Islam. She denied this in the TV interview. Witnesses said the confrontation began with shouting between protesters, church guards and people living near the church.

Rival groups threw firebombs and stones, and gunfire was heard. The church and one other, as well as some nearby homes, were set alight, and it took hours for the emergency services and the military to bring the situation under control. Christian leaders have declared three days of mourning for those who died.
On Sunday, hundreds gathered outside the main state television building, calling for the removal of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who leads Egypt's ruling military council. When they were met by a group of Muslims, fights again broke out and the two groups pelted each other with stones.

The Christian mourners have now gathered outside state television for a second day. They are reportedlyu00a0 angry with the army for failing to protect them. Military authorities are promising tougher measures against anyone who attacks a place of worship, but such promise have been made before, to little effect, say media reports.

Egypt is experiencing a security vacuum since the departure of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, with the discredited police staying out of communal conflicts. Hard-line Salafi Muslim groups were rarely seen in the days of Mubarak, but now they are now able to mount aggressive demonstrations against perceived threats to Islam, straining community relations, our correspondent says.

Condemnation
The incident was condemned by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main Islamist grouping. "We should crack down on that violence and not let those people ruin what we achieved in the January revolution," said a spokesman, Essam el-Erian. "The Imbaba incident clearly shows that there are some people who are still working behind the scenes to ignite sectarian strife in Egypt."

Erian echoed popular feeling in suggesting that attacks may have been encouraged by members of the now disbanded National Democratic Party, which ruled Egypt during the Mubarak era. Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the UN nuclear watchdog and a presidential hopeful, called for "urgent measuresu00a0... to combat religious extremism and intolerance before Egypt slides into the dark ages".

Not the first
Last month, 13 people had died in similar Muslim-Coptic clashes in another Cairo neighbourhood. Copts make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 80 million people. Incidentally, Salafis demonstrated in front of the US embassy in Cairo last week after the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

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