Thirteen People Die In Sectarian Clashes in Cairo
Sectarian Clashes in Cairo (uk.news.yahoo.com)
Thirteen people died in Cairo on Tuesday in the worst outbreak of sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims since the ouster of former president of Egypt Hosni Mubarak last month.
Other 110 people were hurt, according to the Egyptian Health Ministry, after Coptic Egyptians blocked several roads in the capital, demanding that a village church, which had been torched during previous conflicts last week, be rebuilt.
All the 13 dead on Tuesday were Christian, and were taken down by gunfire and Molotov cocktails. This data, provided by the Coptic bishopric could not be confirmed from independent sources.
Sectarian Clashes in Cairo (therealtimer.com)
The protests continued on Wednesday morning as the people chose Tahrir Square to stage their protests.
Last week a church was burnt as a result of a scandal between the members of a Christian man and a Muslim woman who were having a relationship.
The resumption of the sectarian violence in Egypt is a great cause for concern for all the leaders in the country, since it threatens the unity of the republic.
The violence broke out in the first days of 2011, when a church in Alexandria was attacked causing many Christian to die and a huge protest on the streets of the major cities by raged Copts.
As the reaction of the authorities was weak, Muslim Egyptian intellectuals decided to take stance on the matter and defended the Coptic Christians with their own bodies, by participating in the Christmas service on January 6.
This was a very strong gesture of friendship and cooperation, and something to build on the relations between the two communities in the country.
In his address Urbi et Orbi the pope Benedict XVI urged the former regime of Egypt to put an end to the persecution against Christians, because they have the right to practice their religion as citizens of the country.
Egyptian authorities complained against papal remarks but while they were doing so a Christian man was shot dead in a train by a Muslim who was supposed to be an enforcer of the law as policeman.
