News
Thursday, March 10, 2011
13 killed as Christians, Muslims clash in EgyptCAIRO: Thirteen Egyptians were killed in violence between Christians and Muslims as sectarian tensions resurfaced in Cairo and a new government met for the first time on Wednesday, discussing how to restore law and order.
The Health Ministry said the 13 people were killed and 140 wounded in violence late Tuesday night ignited by tensions built up since an arson attack on a church south of Cairo Saturday.
The strife poses another challenge to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as it charts Egypt’s course toward elections that will return power to a civilian, elected government within six months.
The revolution that swept President Hosni Mubarak from power on February 11 was characterised by Christian-Muslim solidarity. Egyptians hoped the uprising had buried tensions that have flared up with increasing regularity in recent years. It was not clear how many of the dead were Christian or Muslim. The trouble had started on a Cairo highway where Christians had been protesting over the arson attack on the church south of the capital in Helwan.
The protests spread elsewhere in the capital and hundreds of people faced off in the violence, hurling petrol bombs and rocks, witnesses said. The injuries included head wounds, bruises, bullet wounds and broken limbs, the state news agency quoted a senior health ministry official as saying. At least one of the dead, an 18-year-old Christian, had been shot in the back.
It was not clear who had opened fire. The military, trying to restore order, had opened fire in the air at one point. “All of us must pay heed to this,” said Amr Hamzawy, a researcher at the Carnegie Middle East Centre and a member of the reform movement. “The supreme military council, the government and civil society must react because we do not want this to escalate and I fear we may return to the dark tunnel of sectarian tension.”
The attack on the church was triggered by a family dispute over a romance between a Muslim woman and a Christian man. Similar stories have triggered strife in the past. Hundreds of Christians have been protesting outside the Cairo headquarters of state television since the attack. Tantawi met with the new government which Wednesday met for the first time since taking office. Led by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, the new cabinet’s priorities include restoring law and order.
The cabinet adjourned its meeting for an emergency session with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces by noon, a cabinet source said, without providing further details. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk