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13 killed in Egyptian religious clashes

Xinhua, March 10, 2011

Egypt's Health and Population Ministry announced Wednesday that 13 people were killed and 140 injured in overnight clashes between the Muslims and the Copts in Cairo, the MENA news agency reported.

Tahrir Square, the epic center of the 18-day demonstrations that forced former President Hosni Mubarak to step down, witnessed more Copts sit-in and anti-strike protests calling on the crowds to go home and give a chance to newly appointed cabinet headed by Essam Sharaf.

Military forces managed to separate the crowds. The traffic returned to normalcy.

Several hospitals in Cairo received the wounded and the dead caused by clashes last night in Cairo's districts of Muqattam, Qalaa and Sayeda Eisha, said Sherif Zamel, head of the ministry's ambulance and emergency division.

Clashes between Egyptian Muslims and Coptic Christians escalated Tuesday after Coptic protestors blocked a main road in Cairo for more than two hours.

Hundreds of salafists, or conservative Muslims, claimed for regaining two women who they believed were held in a church after they proclaimed their Islam belief, state MENA news agency reported.

Meanwhile, thousands of Coptic protestors continued a sit-in for the fourth day on Tuesday in front of the Egyptian Radio and TV building, protesting over a church that was torched in a village in Helwan Governorate, south of Cairo.

They demanded an end of the sectarian clashes against them and the rebuilding of the burnt Shahedain church.

They also called for providing protection for Copts, securing their houses and paying compensation for the losses inflicted on them.

A fight among members of a Muslim family on Friday night over the romantic relationship between a Muslim girl and a Christian merchant left two dead, including the girl's father.

After the funeral, crowds of Muslims from the village directed to the Shahedain church and broke into the church before torching it.