Middle East
Clashes follow Egypt church bombing
Police and Christian men face off after attack in northern city of Alexandria
kills at least 21 people.
Last Modified: 01 Jan 2011 19:03 GMT
Violent protests by Christians against the church bombing underlined Egypt's
simmering religious tensions [Reuters]
Clashes have flared in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria, following a
car bombing blamed outside a Coptic Christian church that killed at least 21
people.
Police and Christian men faced off late on Saturday afternoon, with reports of
rubber-coated bullets and tear gas being fired at crowds of young men.
Enraged Christians emerging from the Qiddissine (The Saints) Church fought with
police and stormed a nearby mosque, prompting fights and volleys of stone
throwing with Muslims.
Authorities blamed the incident on a suicide bomber but provided no evidence to
back up their claim.
Reporting for Al Jazeera, Nadia Abou El-Meg, a journalist in Alexandria, said:
"This scene [of clashes] has been [witnessed] several times today. The
protesters started gathering and throwing stones ... the police responded with
tear gas.
"Tension is running very high and people are very angry ... We saw a lot of
people weeping and screaming and asking why are they being attacked.
"The church has issued a statement which was also very angry, demanding
justice, and criticising the performance of the government.
"More and more people are gathering as the night is falling. Many people are
not buying this idea of the suicide bomber."
The Copts are the biggest Christian community in the Middle East and account
for up to 10 per cent of Egypt's 80m population.
No bombing claim
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's bombing, which
came as nearly 1,000 faithful left the Qiddissine Church, located in
Alexandria's Sidi Bechr district.
According to the Egyptian interior ministry, the car that exploded was parked
in front of the church.
In pictures
Day of anger in Egypt
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from the Egyptian capital Cairo, said
that the car bomb probably involved sophisticated remote-control timer
technology.
"Churches in Egypt are heavily guarded, so undoubtedly questions will arise
about how a car was parked so close to the church and who was able to detonate
it from a distance," he said.
While it was not known who was responsible for the blast, a group calling
itself al-Qaeda in Iraq had threatened the country's Coptic Christian community.
Adel Labib, Alexandria's governor, has linked the attack to al-Qaida, but our
correspondent says the government has not made clear who they were blaming for
the bombing.
Plea for protection
The attack in Egypt prompted Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican to call for
Christians throughout the Middle East to be protected.
The bombing comes almost two months to the day after an October 31 attack by
Muslim fighters on Our Lady of Salvation church in central Baghdad, which left
44 worshippers, two priests and seven security forces members dead.
Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate claimed responsibility for that attack and made new
threats against Christians.
The group threatened to attack Egyptian Copts if their church did not free two
Christians it said had been "imprisoned in their monasteries" for having
converted to Islam.
The two women were Camilia Chehata and Wafa Constantine, the wives of Coptic
priests whose claimed conversion caused a stir in Egypt.
Protection around Copt places of worship was discreetly stepped up after the
threats, as Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, said he was committed to
protecting the Christians "faced with the forces of terrorism and extremism".
Egypt's Coptic Christians often complain of discrimination and have been the
target of religious violence.
Repeated clashes
In 2006 a man attacked worshippers in three churches in Alexandria, killing one
person and wounding others.
Authorities said at the time he had "psychiatric problems" but this was
rejected by the Coptic community.
Clashes broke out between Copts and Muslims the following day at the funeral of
the victim, with one person killed and several wounded.
In November clashes took place in a southwestern neighbourhood of Cairo between
Coptic demonstrators and police after local authorities refused to allow a
community centre to be transformed into a church.
Two Christians died and dozens were wounded.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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