/ 19 May 2011

Egypt Muslims, Christians clash over church

Muslims and Christians clashed on Thursday outside a Cairo church that was reopened after previous sectarian clashes forced its closure more than two years ago, security officials said.

The church, in Ain Shams district, was one of several the government pledged would be reopened after hundreds of Copts staged a 12-day sit-in to protest attacks on their community.

Security officials said several hundred Muslims and Coptic Christians pelted each other with stones after hardline Islamists showed up at the church to object to its reopening.

Military police moved in and restored calm, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

Hundreds of Muslims had attacked two churches in Cairo overnight on May 7, claiming Christians were detaining a Muslim convert.

Fifteen people died in the violence that drove Egypt’s precarious religious tensions to the brink.

The attacks prompted the caretaker government to pledge it would reopen churches like the one in Ain Shams and ease restrictions on building Christian places of worship.

Copts make up about 10% of the country’s 80-million people and complain of state-sanctioned discrimination, such a law that requires them to obtain presidential permission before building a church. — AFP