Clashes in Egypt after mob burns church, killing 12

Christian activist Bishoy Tamri says Muslim youths attacked a large crowd of Coptic Christian protesters marching from the headquarters of the general prosecutor to the state television building overlooking the Nile. He says scores had been injured.

The Christian protesters are accusing the army of collaborating with crowds of ultraconservative Islamists during the earlier attack on a church. A residential building home to Christians was also burned in the overnight violence.

The activist said an army unit securing the television building had not taken action to stop yesterday’s renewed clashes.

Conservative Muslims have accused the church of abducting the wife of a Coptic priest who the protesters believe converted to Islam. Copts answered by holding their own rally on Friday outside the Orthodox Church to protest over what they said was the “targeting of the church”.

The news agency said the violence began on Saturday in the Imbaba neighbourhood after word spread that a Christian woman had married a Muslim and was being held in a church against her will.

Hundreds of Muslims converged on the church to demand the woman be released, witnesses said. Copts stood outside the church protecting it. The witnesses said gunfire was exchanged in the melee, including people shooting from rooftops.

Islamists threw firebombs, and some homes were burned near the church, they said. Crowds chanted: “With our souls and our blood we defend you, Islam.”

Besides the dead, 54 people were injured, the news agency reported, quoting government medical official Abdel-Halim el-Behiri.

Egyptian TV reported that the military and police were trying to break up the stand-off. Witnesses said they used tear gas and fired into the air.

Mixed relationships are taboo in Egypt, where the Muslim majority and sizeable Christian minority are both largely conservative. Such relationships are often the source of deadly clashes.