Deadly Clashes After Coptic Funeral
8/4/13
One person has died and more than 60 others have been injured in clashes outside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral following a funeral.
The memorial service at the cathedral, in the central Cairo neighbourhood of Abbassiya, was being held for four Christians who were killed in sectarian clashes on Friday.
Mourners, who were chanting against the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, were pelted with stones and bottles by residents of the area as they left the funeral.
The Copts inside the church complex hurled objects back at the rows of Abbassiya residents.
Petrol bombs were also thrown during the violence.
Black-clad riot police intervened, firing tear gas at the cathedral, witnesses said, but not before one person had been killed.
“There is one fatality in (Cairo’s) Demerdash hospital,” health ministry official Ahmed al-Ansari told AFP.
Loud blasts could be heard, as clouds of smoke rose up into the sky and people ran in several directions.
Mr Morsi, in a call to Coptic Pope Tawadros II, condemned the violence.
“I consider all attacks on the church as an attack on me personally,” state television quoted Mr Morsi as telling the pope.
He also affirmed “the protection of all citizens, Muslims and Christians, is the responsibility of the state”.
Hani Sobhi, a young Copt, said that live television coverage of the funeral service helped spark the violence.
“Inside the cathedral we chanted ‘down with the Brotherhood rule’ and that was aired live on television. At the exit (of the cathedral) the people were ready and waiting for us,” he said.
In a statement, the interior ministry said “a number of mourners began to damage cars in the area which led to confrontations with residents of the area”.
There was also renewed fighting on Sunday in the town, north of Cairo, where the four Christians were killed on Friday.
One Muslim was also killed in the sectarian violence which flared in El Khusus, a poor area in Qalyubia governorate.
The bitter clashes underscore the simmering tensions in a divided Egypt that has seen violent confrontations between Mr Morsi’s main Islamist allies and a wide ranging opposition.
They also highlight sectarian tensions that have been brewing for several years.
Christians form between 6 and 10% of Egypt’s population of nearly 83 million people.
