19 killed during Christian protests in Cairo

NINETEEN people were killed in Cairo yesterday when Christians, some carrying crosses and pictures of Jesus, clashed with military police said medical and security sources, in the latest sectarian flare-up in a country in political turmoil.

Christians protesting against an attack on a church threw rocks and petrol bombs and set cars on fire, as thick smoke wafted through the streets in some of the most violent scenes since an uprising ousted President, Hosni Mubarak, in February.

Hundreds from both sides fought with sticks on a Cairo bridge. Protests later spread to the central Tahrir Square, the focal point of the February uprising. Witnesses said the army had moved into the area.

State television and sources said 150 people were injured, without saying how many of them were protesters. It had previously said three of those killed were soldiers.

Medical and security sources have told Reuters that at least 19 people were killed.

Tensions between Christians and Muslims have increased since the February uprising. The latest violence comes just weeks before a parliamentary election on November 28, the first such vote since Mubarak was ousted.

Egypt’s government has appealed for calm. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said he had contacted security and church authorities to contain the situation.

“The only beneficiary of these events and acts of violence are the enemies of the January revolution and the enemies of the Egyptian people, both Muslim and Christian,” he said on his Facebook page.

Christians, who make up 10% of Egypt’s roughly 80 million people, took to the streets after blaming Muslim radicals for partially demolishing a church in Aswan province last week.

They also demanded the sacking of the province’s governor for failing to protect the building.

More than four vehicles were set ablaze and TV footage showed protesters breaking windows of parked cars and army personnel carriers driving full speed toward crowds of protesters.

Gun shots were heard and witnesses said crowds of protesters carried bodies as tear gas filled the air. It was unclear who was shooting.

“We were marching peacefully,” Talaat Youssef, a 23-year-old Christian trader told Reuters at the scene.

“When we got to the state television building, the army started firing live ammunition,” he said.

His account could not be immediately confirmed.