Clashes break out at murdered Christian's funeral

Clashes broke out during the funeral procession of a slain Coptic Christian today in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alexandria, police sources said.

Hundreds of mourners were bearing the coffin of Nushi Atta Girgis, 78, who died yesterday after being stabbed outside Saints Church, to the cemetery when the incidents occurred.

Some 15 people were injured, rioters set four cars on fire and security used tear gas to disperse the disturbance, police sources said about the clashes involving Coptic Christians, Muslims and security.

An AP photographer saw one car ablaze as security tried to cordon off the several hundred people waving sticks and shouting angrily.

Accounts of how the clashes erupted were contradictory.

Police said the incident began when several Copts attacked Muslim passers-by, wounding 15. Four cars were set ablaze and security forces used tear gas to disperse the disturbance.

Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported that a Copt wielding an iron bar taunted several Muslims near the procession, sparking a fight that others joined.

Meanwhile, sheikhs at neighbouring mosques were appealing for calm through loudspeakers normally, Al-Arabiya satellite channel said.

Earlier in the day, about 3,000 Christians gathered at Saints Church to mourn a worshipper slain there the day before, as church leaders blasted the government for its failure to protect Egypt’s Christian minority.

Outside the church, mourners shouted anti-government slogans and heaped insults on police who were deployed in large numbers around the square.

The government said they police captured the lone attacker, who was mentally disturbed. Copts contested that one deranged individual would have been capable of attacking several churches in close succession.