Christians and Muslims clash in Cairo, 1 dead
CAIRO — Thousands of Christians and Muslims clashed Tuesday, with one Christian man killed and scores wounded as anger rose over the burning of a church in a Cairo suburb.
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It was the second burst of sectarian fighting in as many days and the latest in a string of violent protests over a variety of topics as simmering unrest continues nearly a month after mass protests led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
The violence erupted after Coptic Christians held protests in several locations in Cairo against perceived persecution by the country’s Muslim majority.
The Christians have been angered by last week’s burning by a Muslim mob of a church in a Cairo suburb. Egypt’s military rulers have since pledged to rebuild the church and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf met Monday with the protesters outside the TV building. But the protesters said they wanted more steps to improve the status of Christians.
About 2,000 of them cut off a main road running on the eastern side of the city and pelted motorists with rocks. Another crowd of about 1,000 protested outside the TV building in downtown Cairo.
The group which included a group of garbage collectors, who are predominantly Christian, demanded equal rights and better quality of life. The clashes broke out when they were confronted by Muslims, witnesses said.
At least one Christian man was killed and about 100 others wounded in the fighting, according to an Egyptian hospital official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.
Elsewhere in Cairo, a protest by hundreds of Egyptian women demanding equal rights and an end to sexual harassment turned violent Tuesday when crowds of men heckled and shoved the demonstrators, telling them to go home where they belong.
Even before Egypt’s uprising unleashed a torrent of discontent, tensions had been growing between Christians and Muslims in the country.
On New Year’s Day, a suicide bombing outside a Coptic church in the port city of Alexandria killed 21 people, setting off days of protests. Barely a week later, an off-duty policeman boarded a train and shot dead a 71-year-old Christian man and wounding his wife and four others.
Also Tuesday, an Egyptian court rejected an appeal by Mubarak and his family against a top prosecutor’s move to seize funds that could total in the billions of dollars. The decision clears the way for a criminal investigation and a possible trial of Egypt’s former leader.
Mubarak, his wife, two sons and their wives have also been banned from travel abroad.
Judicial officials described the court decision to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
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