Cairo .- Ten people died and 110 were injured in clashes between Christians and Muslims in the neighborhood last night Moqqatam of Cairo and its environs, Egyptian authorities said Monday. The riots occurred after Christian groups cut off a highway during a new round of protests by the burning of a church on Saturday in the province of Helwan, south of Cairo.
According to the official news agency MENA, quoting the head of the Ministry of Health Emergency, Sharif Zamel, the number of dead and injured was collected in several hospitals where victims were treated in such incidents between Christians and Muslims. The fighting spread to parts of the capital near Moqqatam, as the neighborhood of the Citadel and Sayeda Aisha.
These are the most violent clashes recorded in Cairo after the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, on 11 February, at the end of eighteen days of protests. According to the leader of an association of Egyptian Copts, Naguib Gibrail, last night's clashes came after Christians staged a peaceful demonstration and cut a highway.
Groups of Muslims from a neighborhood across the road came to the site to open the passage. Sources said the security services to Reuters today that the incident two people were killed and fifteen wounded, while Naguib Gibrail, leader of an Egyptian Coptic Association, told Reuters that there were 8 dead and 70 wounded, several of them serious.
The riots were in Moqatam sector in the east of the Egyptian capital after Christian groups cut off a highway in a new day of protests by the burning of a church in the suburb of Helwan, south of Gran Cairo. The church was burned last Saturday, March 5, after a crowd attacked after attending the funeral of two Muslims in the same family who fought for the daughter of one of them had an affair with a Christian.
From this fact have been several demonstrations of Christians in Cairo, which continued last night Moqatam neighborhood, inhabited mostly by Christians garbage. Gibrail explained it all happened after the Christians in a peaceful demonstration to cut off the highway and Muslim groups from a neighborhood across the road from reaching the place.
Then, there were stones, Molotov cocktails and some shots. The army intervened by firing into the air, but Gibrail said gunfire was also worn by Muslims. Several homes in the garbage or zabalín "were burned, but firefighters soon arrived to the neighborhood. Finally, the army said around midnight that he had managed to control the situation, without giving casualty figures.
Christians represent about 10 percent of the population of Egypt, a country with Muslim majority. There are regular clashes between Copts and Muslims for personal reasons and religious differences. The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest group of the Egyptian opposition, yesterday rejected these sectarian divisions and accused remnants of the regime of Hosni Mubarak of causing the incidents. 
According to the official news agency MENA, quoting the head of the Ministry of Health Emergency, Sharif Zamel, the number of dead and injured was collected in several hospitals where victims were treated in such incidents between Christians and Muslims. The fighting spread to parts of the capital near Moqqatam, as the neighborhood of the Citadel and Sayeda Aisha.
These are the most violent clashes recorded in Cairo after the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, on 11 February, at the end of eighteen days of protests. According to the leader of an association of Egyptian Copts, Naguib Gibrail, last night's clashes came after Christians staged a peaceful demonstration and cut a highway.
Groups of Muslims from a neighborhood across the road came to the site to open the passage. Sources said the security services to Reuters today that the incident two people were killed and fifteen wounded, while Naguib Gibrail, leader of an Egyptian Coptic Association, told Reuters that there were 8 dead and 70 wounded, several of them serious.
The riots were in Moqatam sector in the east of the Egyptian capital after Christian groups cut off a highway in a new day of protests by the burning of a church in the suburb of Helwan, south of Gran Cairo. The church was burned last Saturday, March 5, after a crowd attacked after attending the funeral of two Muslims in the same family who fought for the daughter of one of them had an affair with a Christian.
From this fact have been several demonstrations of Christians in Cairo, which continued last night Moqatam neighborhood, inhabited mostly by Christians garbage. Gibrail explained it all happened after the Christians in a peaceful demonstration to cut off the highway and Muslim groups from a neighborhood across the road from reaching the place.
Then, there were stones, Molotov cocktails and some shots. The army intervened by firing into the air, but Gibrail said gunfire was also worn by Muslims. Several homes in the garbage or zabalín "were burned, but firefighters soon arrived to the neighborhood. Finally, the army said around midnight that he had managed to control the situation, without giving casualty figures.
Christians represent about 10 percent of the population of Egypt, a country with Muslim majority. There are regular clashes between Copts and Muslims for personal reasons and religious differences. The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest group of the Egyptian opposition, yesterday rejected these sectarian divisions and accused remnants of the regime of Hosni Mubarak of causing the incidents.
No comments:
Post a Comment