Coptes : affrontement au Caire – 14 mai 2011

Seven injured in sectarian clashes in Cairo: police

AFP

15 05 2011

CAIRO — Seven people were injured and hospitalised in clashes between Muslims and Christians in the centre of Cairo, police sources said.

State television announced four hours after the start of clashes that the military had intervened and succeeded in restoring order.

The clashes started at about 9:00 pm local time (1900 GMT), lasted until about 1:00 am Sunday (2300 GMT Saturday) and saw cars belonging to Christian protesters set on fire, police said.

The clashes broke out after an altercation between a young Muslim and Coptic Christians who have been staging a sit-in outside the state television building in central Cairo since May 7, after sectarian unrest last week that left 15 dead, police said.

The Muslim returned to the protest site with a group of friends and fired on the Christians with a hunting rifle, wounding three, the sources said.

Clashes then erupted with rocks being thrown and a number of young Muslims arrived later and threw Molotov cocktails at the Christian protesters’ vehicles, police said. Read more…