Cairo, Egypt - Clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians continued for a third day on Sunday in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Egypt. Bands of Muslims and Christians rioted in the streets, burning cars, pillaging shops and attacking one another with stones and Molotov cocktails, while other Coptic Christians observed their Palm Sunday inside the churches.
Christian protesters ran past riot policemen Sunday during a third day of clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Egypt.
Tensions were ignited after an attack on Friday by at least one man wielding a machete on Christian worshipers at three churches. Nushi Atta Girgis, 78, was killed in one of the attacks, and at least six people were wounded.
On Saturday, after the funeral for Mr. Girgis, groups of Muslims and Christians fought in the streets until the police forcibly dispersed the rioters. During the fighting, at least one Muslim man was killed, while 22 people were injured and 55 people were arrested from both communities, the police said.
After initially announcing that several individuals intiated the attacks on Friday, the government claimed that only one mentally unstable man attacked both Muslims and Christians in the streets.
The fighting on Sunday receded after a counterprotest organized by Christian and Muslim leaders confronted the rioters, chanting, “Long live the Crescent and the Cross.” Dr. Kamil Sewiris, the secretary general of the Christian Council for the Orthodox Church in Alexandria, said in a telephone interview that the slogans were a response to some of the protesters on Saturday, who shouted that Muhammad was the enemy of God.
Violent outbreaks between the communities are not unprecedented, often resulting from disputes over land and construction of churches. However, this attack was the first in recent memory in which Muslims attacked Christians inside the churches while they were praying.
“We have warned the government that Alexandria is a volcano that could erupt at any time,” Dr. Sewiris said. “The Coptic youths overreacted to this incident, but their response comes after long years of violations of our civil rights. These tensions are the harvest of 30 years of Muslim fundamentalists spreading hate speech from the mosques.” Coptic Christians constitute at least 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 71 million people.